Sharpened Tools

"This knife will barely cut butter!" complained Mom as she struggled to cut slices of roast beef. "Our lunch is going to look like Iripped it apart with my teeth!"Dad laughed. "I'll take it down to my workshop and sharpen it later."After lunch, Rachel approached her father. "Dad, I'm stuck on this math problem. Can you help me?" She held out her paper and pencil."I'll try," said Dad, but he soon handed the pencil back to her. "Do you have a pencil sharpener?" he asked. "This point is so worn down, Ican't write at all with it." Rachel quickly sharpened the pencil.For family devotions that evening, Dad read a few verses from Ephesians. "The dull tools we've had around here today made me think of the sword that never needs sharpening--the Bible, which is the Word of God," he said. "Our knives and pencils get dull and need to be sharpened pretty often, but God's Word is always sharp and powerful. Of course, we need to use that sword. Who knows how we do that?""Umby reading it and applying