I've been reading about the process of making violins.  I had no idea how much time and care went into the selection of wood used to make these stringed instruments.  The effort is truly staggering.  To give you an idea of what I'm talking about, allow me to share this tidbit from another website:

Violin makers prefer woodcut from old growth trees, grown at high altitudes on northern slopes.The wood must be cut during the cold dormant months and stored(seasoned) in controlled conditions for several years. Most of the woodused in violin making is split or cut "on the quarter" for greateststrength.


Immediately after the tree is felled, the trunk is bucked into rounds(cut up into cylindrically shaped lengths) only slightly longer thanthat needed for the finished pieces. Like slicing a pie, these roundsare split or sawn radially into wedge shaped pieces called billets. Thebillets are sealed on their ends with hot glue, stacked in such a mannerthat air can circulate all around them, and stored in a cool area awayfrom direct sunlight.


Each piece of wood dries throughout at an equally slow rate. The dryingor seasoning time for a piece of violin wood is generally ten years ormore, depending on its size and thickness. Fifty year old wood is evenbetter! Kiln drying of commercial lumber destroys the cell structure ofthe wood and thus its physical and acoustic properties. - www.gussetviolins.com

Did you catch that?  It takes decades for wood to be ready to be used to make a violin.  It must be aged and tempered.  From what I've read elsewhere, trees that have endured extreme abuse from the environment often make some of the best violins because they have grown strong and do not easily break under pressure.  How interesting!

Some days I feel like that wood.  Growing older day after day.  Waking up each morning with new aches and pains. . . and I'm only 35!  Not only that, but I, too, know what it's like to wait for something more.  I want to be used, and in some ways, I know I'm being used by the Lord now.  But I feel there's so much more potential within me that is trapped by circumstances beyond my control.  I want to do more, to be more, but I don't have the time, the money, the energy, the influence, the means, and so on.  And so I wait, longing to be used to my full potential and simultaneously fearing the tempering that must be applied to make me usable.

But like the trees, I can be assured that one day I will reach my goal.  One day, I will be ready for God to take me and mold me into something that makes beautiful music for Him.  One day, I will be made into an exquisite instrument that brings no glory to itself but to the One who brings out the most beautiful music from within me.  And on that day, I will look back at all the waiting and tempering and say, "It was worth it!"