Unsharpened Pencils

I was scrambling through the junk drawer in my kitchen, urgently searching for a pencil. I’d just heard something on the radio and had one of those fleeting thoughts you

know

you’ll lose if you don’t write it down.

Scrambling, scrambling.

Finally, success! Pencils.

Hallelujah.

Two! Even better!

But as soon as I pulled them out of the drawer, my excitement faded. Neither one was sharpened. Fresh out of the box. I just stood there for a second, oddly disappointed, realizing I’d have to keep searching—or walk into another room—to finish the job.

Am I ever like an unsharpened pencil?

An unsharpened pencil has everything it needs to succeed: the lead, the casing, even the eraser. All the right parts are there. But it hasn’t been cut down yet. It hasn’t gone through the process that actually makes it useful.

Maybe when we experience trials, when life feels like it’s cutting us down, we’re not being ruined at all. Maybe we’re being sharpened. Prepared to be of greater use to ourselves, our families, our colleagues, our communities, our world… and our God.

Ouch. That hurts.

No thanks; don’t cut me there.

And yet maybe that’s the only way real productivity and purpose are formed.

So the next time I feel uncomfortable, sad, disappointed, or hurt, I’ll try to consider this: perhaps God is simply removing the casing in the one place that’s blocking me from becoming His tool.