The Power Of The Pencil

Have you ever stopped to consider the power of a pencil? I mean, think about it. It has the power to give the user the confidence to work, knowing that a mistake can easily be corrected. It provides security knowing that nothing is permanent and can be redone at any time. It gives the user the ability to become better in what they are doing. The power of the pencil is truly something to learn from.

We go through life thinking that we are writing everything we do in permanent marker. We make decisions and choices that are chiseled onto our life path. We think that everything we do is permanently etched into who we are and we become defined by our choices. We write and write making mistakes left and right. And instead of correcting our mistakes, we keep moving forward, never reviewing what we have done to make the necessary corrections. We have missing punctuation, words that should be capitalized, and words that are misspelled. Our life seems to be a jumble of good writing mixed in with some awful mistakes.

Instead of realizing that our life is written in pencil and can be changed at any time, we continue writing our life as if we were using a permanent marker. Please don’t misunderstand me, there are decisions that have a lasting impact in our lives, but that doesn’t mean we can’t change. The original lines that were written by pencil are still on the paper, but those lines can be written over with new graphite. We might make poor choices in life, but we don’t need to continue to make those choices. We can erase the character traits that led us to those choices anytime we want. We can change our attitudes, our motives, and even our mind set. 

Not only can we change our attitude, motives and mind set, we can also correct mistakes in relationships. It’s amazing what happens when we realize that we are writing our life in a pencil and not a permanent marker when it comes to relationships. As human beings, we tend to make mistake after mistake. Those of us who are attuned to the pencil we are writing with, when we make mistakes in our relationships, we quickly turn our pencil over and make corrections when needed. We say things like, “I am sorry,” “I was wrong,” or even “I forgive you.” We seek to correct the mistake and reconcile our relationships. If you are always thinking your life is written in permanent marker, you might miss the opportunity to mend broken relationships and burning bridges, and you might write off valuable relationships in your life. 

If you think you are writing your life with a permanent marker, I encourage you to put down your marker and start using a pencil. We are not stuck in a life that is non-correctable. All we need to do is turn our pencil around and start making corrections.