Are you a pencil?

Not long ago, as I was driving home from work, I was listening to Relevant Radio. A man was talking about having met Mother Theresa. He said that she considered herself "a pencil in the hand of God." Hmmm...let me think about that a minute.

• Pencils are simple, but pretty useful tools. Anybody can use one, but if someone is skilled, they can create artistic, musical or literary masterpieces with a mere pencil.

• How would it work if a pencil exerted its own intellect and tried to take over while the master artist was at work? A mess, right? So, if we are simple but pretty useful tools in the hands of God, what will it take for us to release our will to that of the Father's? What artistry will God perform with us and through us if we do?

• Pencils are of no use unless they're sharpened. What sharpens us? All those little annoyances and big crises do. Each one knocks a little off of our edges until we're sharp enough to use. How do we look at the hindrances and stumbling blocks in our lives? If we reframe them, we can appreciate (sometimes MUCH later) how they helped us to be of more use to God's work.

• Do pencils have to be perfect to do their jobs? Some are chewed, their paint chipping off. Yet, inside each of those pencils is still the graphite necessary to do its work. We all have our issues. God can and does use us, in spite of our faults...and sometimes because of them.

• Pencils have erasers. We get do-overs because of God's infinite grace and MERCY. It's that simple.

Being a pencil doesn't sound too bad! Are you a pencil?