Janka

If you take a piece of wood and hurl an 11.28-millimeter steel ball at it and then measure the amount of force it took to embed that steel ball halfway into the wood, besides having a little fun, you’d be performing the Janka hardness test. A measurement for the strength of different wood species. 

Shrapnel leaving dents and marks. Sounds like life sometimes, doesn’t it? Our strength is often being tested. And marriages do take a beating, it seems. 

Supposedly, the traditional fifth wedding anniversary gift of wood symbolizes strength and wisdom. I’m not really sure who came up with these. But any excuse for a theme I’m all about. 

I’ve been the beneficiary of many wooden gifts over the years through my husband’s fine woodworking skills. But my favorite is probably the unity cross he designed and built for our wedding ceremony, which now hangs on a wall in our home in between our framed vows.

Three separate crosses nest into each other as one. 

A bride and groom come together to make something new. 

They become stronger because they are together.

They become stronger because they are together in Christ. 

Strength and wisdom. 

I'm so grateful for that third larger cross. Because we don’t need a Janka test to tell us we are a weak species of wood. We’ve got the dents and scars to prove it. But that outer wooden cross; well, that’s where the strength and wisdom come from. That’s the One holding us together. 

And on September 29th, 2023, I'm thankful for five years of ‘wooded’ bliss.

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