God's Little Pencil

Mother Teresa once said, “"No one thinks of the pen while reading the letter. They only want to know the mind of the person who wrote the letter. That's exactly what I am in God's hand--a little pencil."

When you woke up this morning… how did you see yourself? The star of your own one-act play called life? A doormat? A VIP? Or maybe as someone who is insignificant in the grand scheme of things. In any case, I want to assure you this morning that you matter. You were put on this earth for great things. But that greatness might not be for what you think.

You weren’t put here on this planet to be great for your own sake but for God’s.

God must get bigger and we must get smaller.

Scripture says it this way in John 3:30 “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”

Let that sink in a second. Life isn’t about you. It isn’t about me either. We are tiny pencils writing God’s story that will impact the world. Some of us will write beautiful stories of love, sacrifice, dedication, and a willingness to serve others. Others will defy God and scribble out a message of selfishness and greed. Which are you?

God wants to write a new chapter for this world using you. Are you willing to let Him? Are you able to accept your role as HIS pencil and not your own? Are you ready to surrender your agenda for Christ’s? Today, take a minute and thank God that He uses broken pencils like you and I to impact His creation for good.

Pour In

 A water bearer had two large water pots which he carried on either end of a pole slung across his shoulders. One of the pots had a crack in it, so every day as he carried water to his master’s house he arrived with one full pot and one only half full. This went on for two years. One pot was very proud of its accomplishments, while the imperfect pot was embarrassed at its failure. Its distress at being able only to accomplish half of what it had been made to do, resulted in its speaking one day to the water carrier.

"I am so ashamed," the pot said. "Why?" asked the carrier. "Because water leaks out all the way to your master’s house and because of my crack I’ve been only able to deliver half of the load." The water carrier looked kindly at the cracked pot and said, "As we return to my master’s house today, I want you to look at the beautiful flowers along the path."

The pot was a little cheered by the beauty he saw along the way. "Did you notice that the flowers were only on your side of the path?" the water carrier said.  “If your water hadn’t poured out, this beauty would not have occurred.  What you saw as deficiency, the flowers saw as provision.”

Pouring into others matters.  The Bible says it this way...

“Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.”  -  Ephesians 4:29b

“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works.” - Hebrews 10:24

   God has called us to do many things while we are here on planet Earth.  One of our primary opportunities is to partner together with others on their journey to reach their God-potential.  You have people in your life right now that need you.  You are their encouragement... your presence brings them comfort... and they are counting on your friendship to help them bloom.   Make every effort to pour into them... be there for them in their times of trouble... and give them the reassurance that somebody really does care.  

Maybe you feel like the pot in today’s story.... broken... unusable...  You aren’t.  God has given you the ability to cheer someone up, carry someone’s burdens, brighten someone’s day, or to let them know that Jesus Christ...the true Living Water... can put flowers where there was once dry land.  When we remember this, and really do it.... we get the blessing and God gets the glory.