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The Broadminded
Carpenter
The story of Silas Lackadaisy is bound
up with the history of the town of Slapdash. Silas
was one of the first settlers in the area and he could tell
you how it all began. It wasn’t long until the
Dawdle family moved to Slapdash, and interestingly enough,
Silas Lackadaisy fell in love with Susie Dawdle, so in due
time they were married.
Now Silas Lackadaisy
professed to be a carpenter, although by his own way of
bragging, he jokingly said he was just a jackknife
carpenter. This, of course, was okay except that
Silas claimed to be very tolerant and instead of following the
plans explicitly, he just went by his feelings or his
judgment. This characteristic almost got Silas in
trouble when he built his house. He knew just
about where his lot was, but he didn’t consult the
surveyor. He said, “Oh well, what difference does
a few inches make.” It so happened that when his
house was finished, his neighbor had a survey made and found
that Silas had built his house some six inches beyond his
lot. The ensuing battle led to mach hard feelings
and ended up in court where Silas was forced to make
amends.
Silas lackadaisy soon found his own house
too small to accommodate all the little Lackadaisys that were
bouncing around, so he decided to build a larger
house. This was not too difficult for he had
helped other builders, but he had always worked for someone
else who made certain that the level and the square along with
the blue print determined the exact
specifications. Being broadminded in character,
Silas Lackadaisy was not too careful about using the level to
make sure his basement was plumb. The fact that
the back of the house was about two feet longer than the front
was no problem to “broadminded” Silas. He guessed
at measurements and sizes. His windows were almost
right---near enough, but they were not exact even to the
causal onlooker. When the house was ready to live
in its value depreciated immediately because of its various
imperfections. However, Silas and Susie were
satisfied because they had shown what could be done, by simply
being a bit broadminded in the erection of a
house.
An unfortunate accident occurred during
the building of the house. Silas fell from a
scaffold that was not properly secured and the resulting crash
caused painful lacerations to his right arm and
leg. He refused to see a doctor until
complications had set in with infection and fever.
When Silas consulted the sympathetic doctor he was told to
rest and take a sedative, and an antidote for his
infection. The doctor told him to take an amount
equal to what he could place on a dime. Silas
started to carry out the instructions but found he didn’t have
a dime. Being broadminded, he reasoned, “Why not
use two nickels. That would make a
dime.” Silas carried out his expression of being
broadminded, but the results almost proved fatal.
Doctors are not broadminded about doses of
medicine!
As time went by, one of the Lackadaisy
girls named Harmony, developed an aptitude for
music. Both Silas and Susie were delighted and
they bought an inexpensive piano for her to practice
on. Of course, they didn’t think it was necessary
to be too exact about tune or pitch or even instruction so
long as she could play a tune. The result was soon
evident. But Silas was broadminded and bragged
about how Harmony could play without any lessons.
Most people added under their breath, “And without any regard
to the principle of music.”
“Dizzy” failed to
make the football squad. It was not because of his
lack of ability or strength, but because he would not take
orders from the coach. Dizzy Lackadaisy, like his
father, was broadminded about practice, about rules and
particularly about being too independent in obeying
orders. It just seemed that the Lackadaisys didn’t
fit in too well with the rest of the community.
Even Susie”s cooking left much to be desired because she
always guessed at ingredients instead of measuring
them. When anyone complained about a dish being
too salty or spicy, Susie would brag that it was pretty good,
considering the fact that she just guessed at the amount
required.
In the course of time a minister came
to Slapdash. He called on all the residents in the
town and invited them to the meeting place. The
Lackadaisys were among those who attended. Silas
Lackadaisy always boasted of being broadminded when it came to
religion. His argument was that all churches were
aimed in the same direction and it didn’t matter which one you
chose. The same broadmindedness found its way into
many of Lackadaisy’s business dealings, only there, for the
most part, people called it plain crooked. Yes,
you had to watch Silas or he would take advantage of
you. Although he offered his services to help
build the new church, the foreman reluctantly refused his off
saying he had enough men for the Job. What he
really meant was that almost everything Silas helped with had
to be torn apart and done over again. You just
can’t be careless in building the House of
God.
Gradually it began to dawn on Silas that it
was not always right or safe to be broadminded in
everything. Car drivers had to obey rigid
rules. Storekeepers were not broadminded about
their weights and measures. Druggists weren’t
broadminded in mixing prescriptions. Teachers
weren’t broadminded about multiplication tables.
Music permitted no liberties to the musician as Silas
discovered when Harmony tried to join the local
band. Doctors and druggists weren’t broadminded in
their diagnoses or prescriptions. There were many
things in which broadmindedness was a liability.
Silas realized this all the more when he surveyed his own
“topsy-turvey” house with its lack of precision and consequent
loss of value.
Silas Lackadaisy went a bit
farther. What about his relationship with
God? After all broadmindedness might get you by on
the “broad way” but the “strait gate and the narrow way” would
not accommodate his brand. At last he called it
shallowness, which was its right name. Silas and
Susie finally faced up to reality and acknowledged their
need. Silas confessed that what he thought was
being broadminded was jut being shallow. He
decided that there were some “fixed stars” in the spiritual
heavens, and further that he was lost as far as knowing what
it meant to be right with God. His being
broadminded may have been okay as long as religion didn’t
matter, but when the life and destiny of the soul are at
stake, a man wants to be sure. Silas and Susie
Lackadaisy didn’t procrastinate. Together they
made their peace with God and did their best to undo their
folly and pass on their new discovery to their
family. The call of Christ is not debatable or
negotiable. It calls for full surrender and total
obedience. It had to be genuine for there are no
substitutes for the truth. We can’t forge our
passport to glory on our own terms. To be valid we
must have Christ’s endorsement and His acceptance, which
provides our assurance.
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