The Pencil I Am

Most of us go through life observing the great things around us. The BIG things get our attention and make a difference to us. Or maybe it is just that these things get the best press. Whatever it is in each of us, we glance over the small stuff, thinking it insignificant to remember and not worth even thinking about.
This past week, as I helped out with the grade 2-3 class at Drumbo School, I became distracted just for a moment on what I noticed. One of the students was using a pencil that was no longer then about one and one half inches. Here she was, quietly working away with a very small pencil.
Why would she do this? Couldn’t she just go to the teacher and ask for a new one? Maybe this was a sinister plot concocted by a journalistic child looking to get every last word out of this writing instrument. In all likelihood she was just being a child and enjoying a challenge that involved seeing how long they could go with just one lowly small pencil.
Looking around, I noticed all the other children had decent pencils. Some were long and new, others short with no eraser left and still other children had pencils with distinct teeth marks that showed everyone their territorial domain. “That one, it’s mine!”
During an activity that took the students from their desks I unsuspectedly went over to the desk and sharpened the little stump just to give it a clean look and fresh wood. What memories came to mind as I smelt the scent of fresh wood and graphite together. Took me back to . . . Another day.
And so I spent the drive home wondering about that pencil and thinking of its attributes. It has the ability to correct its own mistakes. (Unless the eraser is pulled or chewed off). The pencil suffers pain when sharpened ( That is if it has feelings). It can do amazing things when held by the right person. Even though a pencil is short and close to being replaced, it still preforms amiably as it leaves its mark. Lastly, it is not the colour or shape or length that makes the difference. It’s what is inside that counts.
A small thing that most in this world never think about. First mass produced in 1662, they now cost twelve for a dollar. A small thing that shadows who we are. In our lives we are shaped by the master who holds the sharpener and makes us ready for the task to which He has called us. It is in His hand that we create the Big things we remember. Even though we cannot erase the past we can take away the pain found in life and replace it with peace.
I remember back to grade school when one of the last of the Group of Seven came to our class. In the short time he was there we were fascinated by him and not just his work. One thing has stayed with me from those early childhood days was this line, “The best artist never uses an eraser.” The best pencil is not the one that is pristine and new but the one God uses until it is no more then the unused eraser.
Just like the pencil, we have the ability to leave our mark. We leave our mark every time we write or draw on the hearts of others. It may be in the way we help a child up after falling off a bike or in the pie we take to a neighbour when they need something to brighten their day or the conversation over a cup of tea.
As you work on the big things in life, ask yourself what mark are you making? Oh and watch that eraser.
Rob