Pencils in the Pew
Every Sunday was the same. Scott and I would take the children to their respective classes then go to our class. After Sunday School we would pick the children up and go to the sanctuary for what we call Big Church.
We take our seats in the same pew in the balcony. Each week they would be there, sharpened with a perfect point ready to use, the yellow pencils.
I never thought much about the perfectly sharpened yellow pencils until I happened to be at church office on a Tuesday morning. A dapper older gentleman brushed by with a box pencils in one hand and a sharpener in the other. With a bent brow I asked someone, “Is he the one who sharpens the pencils in the pews each week?” It was confirmed.
Each week he breezed in and out quietly without anyone ever taking notice. He did want anyone to notice. He did not want any recognition at all. Sharpening the pencils each week was his way of serving, serving his Lord as well as his fellow church members.
The congregation showed up on Sunday to freshly sharpened pencils.
I want to be like the Pencil Sharpener. To serve without the desire for recognition, need for a thank you, or pat on the back.
I am so grateful to all the those who “sharpen pencils” in my world. Lord, would bless those who take care of the details I so often take for granted?
THANK YOU!! This time of life for me is confusing. I am a mostly unemployed mother. I have two adult sons (24 and 26) that don’t really need me anymore. That is as it should be but I am feeling lost. My talent list is so short and even the ones you might can stretch and say I have are extremely simple that any person with a room temperature IQ could do. I feel as if that is almost the same as having no talents. This post was helpful to me as a result.