Columns

Fr. Wilson Cuevas ( Vida del Espiritu )

Pencils of God

There is a popular saying: “God writes on crooked lines”. He is the best pencil maker. We are like pencils in His hands. There is a tale about a pencil manufacturer who took a pencil, before putting it in the box and gave it this advise: “The following are five things you need to know before you are sent into the world. Remember them always and you will be the best pencil in the world:

1. You should always do great things, but only if someone holds your hand.

2. To experience the pain on occasions when you are being sharpened, but it will be necessary so that you can be a better pencil.

3. You will make mistakes, but you also will also have an eraser to correct them.

4. The most important part is what you have inside.

5. On any surface that you might be utilized you will have to leave a mark. Regardless of circumstances or conditions, you should continue writing.

The pencil got into the box promising to remember these five recommendations and with the intention in his heart to be useful. Now we can place ourselves in the place of the pencil and remember these five things, to be a better person:

1. You will always do great things, but only if you are held by God’s hands.

2. To experience the pain in occasions from struggles and tribulations, but this is necessary for you to be stronger and courageous.

3. You will make mistakes, but will be humble enough to correct all of them and grow through them as well, (Reconciliation).

4. The most important thing is what is inside your heart. (Soul).

5. On every surface you walk on, you must leave a mark. Regardless of circumstances or conditions, you should continue serving God each and every moment.

To serve God and to serve our neighbor is one of the most beautiful privileges of a believer. Everyday is filled with opportunities to serve. Do not let them pass by. It is your decision.

Live the life, and spend it serving others. This is what gives sense to our daily living. For Jesus says: “He who keeps his life will lose it, and who loses it by serving others will keep it” the following story helps us to better understand what Jesus tries to tell us.

Mother Theresa of Calcutta tells about a certain occasion a gentleman from India made this confession: “Mother, you sisters do social assistance like us, with a notorious difference: You do it for SOMEONE and we do it for SOMETHING”.

In my case, do I share my gifts for love or for some personal interest? Am I in solidarity to serve, just in appearance or to obtain something in return? God keep me from trading with love. God keep me from degrading love for miserable interests. I can be an instrument in God’s hands and let myself be utilized by Him, as Mother Theresa says: “I always say I am a little pencil in God’s hand. He thinks and writes. He does everything. On occasions it is very difficult. Sometimes the pencil is not sharpened and God has to sharpen it again”.

United with God we do not do thing for something but for God who is in the person that needs us. Let us then be instruments of the love of God. From immemorial times men have asked this question: Why do good people suffer of die? No pain of loss can extinguish the flame of faith, when we are sure that misfortune does not come from God, but from human decisions or indecisions. Heroes and saints and many other human beings strengthened by their faith and trust in God, know that the seed of wheat should die to yield many fruits. But no suffering is away from God, as St. Paul says in his Letter to the Romans 8, 31-39.

Good-natured people turn their failures into victories. Their kindness encourages them to accept undeserved grief, aware that they also enjoy undeserved privileges. With great strength the popular writer Jorge Luis Borges endured blindness during 30 years of his life. His words are a comfort for the soul: “Every man should think that all that happens to him is an instrument; all things have been given with a purpose. All than happens even the humiliations, all disgrace and misfortune, all of these have been given as clay and he has to take advantage of it. These things have been given to be transformed, to make our life circumstances eternal elements or that aspire to be eternal”. These words invite us to have a perspective of eternity. In the perspective of eternity it acquires a new meaning and we are capable of molding with love the clay of love. Live like a maker of good things, when you do the right thing you are doing what you should. You are doing the best investment of your life in the bank of heaven: be kind!