The Pencil

It was the only reason you were allowed to get out of your seat.
It was a reason that was acceptable.
Some abused the privilege.
Some saw it as a way to take a little walk.

I loved to sharpen my pencil in my elementary school classroom.
The pencil sharpener usually hung on the wall.
Often, the sharpener was in the back of the room.
Sometimes, it was in the front.

It was so liberating to get out of your seat and walk to the sharpener.
The sound of the crank as it turned is forever etched in my memory.
A sharpened pencil can be dangerous.
We never thought about such things then.

We were always told to carry the pencil with the point facing down.
If you tripped and fell while carrying your pencil, the point could go in your eye.
When you’re young, you never thought that a grownup’s warning could ever happen.
One jab of a pencil point and you realized that it did hurt.

Sometimes a few people would have to sharpen their pencils at the same time.
If the sharpener was in the back of the room, it became a meeting place of sorts.
It was like the quintessential time around the office water cooler.
Teachers put an end to that quickly by forbidding anyone from sharpening their pencil.

It was then, that personal pencil sharpeners were bought and kept in a pencil case.
They had to be the kind of sharpener that collected the shavings in its base.
That became a problem after a while.
Hands went up to ask permission to empty the shavings in the trash can.

I thought of all of this when I went down into my husband’s workshop.
Near one of his workbenches, I saw the old fashioned pencil sharpener I remember.
I didn’t remember seeing it there before.
I wanted to get one of my pencils from my desk drawer and sharpen it, for nostalgia, of course.

Pencils are wonderful.
They were the preferred writing tool in my early school years.
It was a rite of passage when I was finally able to use a pen.
Pencils were something you mostly used in math class.

Kate DiCamillo describes pencils best.
I love pencils.They speak to me of possibility (of writing and working and making something), but pencils are also forgiving—I mean, there’s the eraser, right at the top, implying by its very existence that you won’t get it right the first time.

We hear it said: Write your plans in pencil.
Writing in pencil means that things can be changed.
Ink cannot be erased.
Pencil can be erased with ease.

I can still see the pink eraser I had in my pencil case.
I can see the erasures that were like a dusting of snow on my desk.
Writing in pencil had an air of impermanence.
Words could be changed, removed, or rewritten.

My daughter, who taught second grade until her own daughters were born, loved a quote.
It was from her favorite movie, You’ve Got Mail.
I often heard her say the words when the school year began.
The words always made her smile.

Don’t you love New York in the fall? It makes me wanna buy school supplies. I would send you a bouquet of newly sharpened pencils if I knew your name and address.

A bouquet of sharpened pencils.
The possibilities.
But also, as Kate DiCamillo says, the forgiveness.
The acceptance that you will not always get it right.

The Lord is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in love. He will not always accuse, nor will he harbor his anger forever; he does not treat us as our sins deserve or repay us according to our iniquities. For as high as the heavens are above the earth, so great is his love for those who fear him; as far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us. (Psalm 103:8-12)

It is as if God has a pencil with an ample eraser.

If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. (1 John 1:9)

Aren’t you glad that God has a pencil?
When we confess our sin, God uses His pencil with the large eraser.
Aren’t you glad that our sin is as far as the east is from the west?
The stain of sin, that has been removed from us, has been placed on Jesus, God’s Son.

Come to Jesus in faith.
Confess your sin.
God the Father is faithful and just.
He will purify you, cleanse you, and forgive you.

In Christ, there is forgiveness.
In Christ, there is the ability to begin again.
Only then are we new; only then are we clean.
Only then are we forgiven.

2 responses to “The Pencil”

1. Gina,
   one of my favorite sayings when a mistake is made, “That’s why there is an eraser on a pencil”. So thankful that GOD has a BIG eraser.

   Reply

   • Michele,
     I am so thankful that God has a big eraser as well.
     What grace!
     Gina

     Reply