Lessons from the #2 Pencil

For the past school year I have had the privilege to volunteer in Kajsa’s 1^st grade class on Thursday mornings. For about 1.5 hours I help cute first graders with writing, reading, answering questions (sometimes the same question over and over again), and support an amazing teacher. This past week I walked into the classroom all ready to work and help the students. The teacher greets me and instead of giving me direction of what to do in the classroom she hands be a large bag of # 2 pencils. I look at the bag thinking I needed to pass them out to the students. But no that wasn’t what she wanted…she asked me without apology…”Can you sharpen these for me?”  The immediate thought that came to my mind was…”What?!?!, I have better things to do than sharpen pencils, there are children who need to learn and be encouraged, and challenged – all those noble things.” I took the pencils and began the hunt for the pencil sharpener located in the library. To my dismay the only pencil sharpener available was a manual one.  My heart sank. This was going to take forever. That’s when the real hunt began…someone in the school had to have an electric one.  Two classroom later I found two! I felt very successful. So there I stood sharpening pencils, going between two sharpeners, burning one of the out (oops!), one pencil at a time. The bag seemed never ending. Some of the pencils had the lead near invisible it made it very difficult to sharpen. I could have easily become frustrated as I spent 45 minutes sharpening pencils that students would break, drop on the ground, put their germs on and eventually throw away. But as I stood there (my feet were hurting towards the end) I was doing something that was needed and important to the teacher – the person who I had made a commitment to. This is what she needed me to do. This was important to her because she wanted her students to have pencil they could write with and work on their handwriting with. As I finished sharpening I thanked God for the opportunity that I can serve in my daughters school and that I can support a teacher who does so much for my daughter. I learned that Thursday morning that God’s view is greater than my small view of what is really going on. So as I sharpened pencils God sharpened me!

Here are some of the lessons I learned:

• You are never as important as you think you are
•  Servanthood is about a heart of serving not the task
• Whether small or large do all things as unto the Lord
•  Your time is only as valuable as your priorities (serving my daughters teacher is a priority – happy teacher, happy child!)
• Make it happen, no matter what
• Find better ways to do something
•  Living out my faith not just talking about it
•  It takes about 20 seconds to sharpen a pencil, 50 seconds to sharpen a pencil that is in really rough shape
• Don’t buy the cheap pencils they are a pain to sharpen
• Be glad that someone needs your help
• Love by actions because you were loved by actions of a Savior

““A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.”” John 13:34-35 NIV