also at http://thelightseed.blogspot.com
A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. Ezekiel 36:26 King James Bible (Cambridge Ed.)
Photo from: http://www.ehow.com/how_6494569_post-stories-published.html
Being manifested that you are a letter of Christ, cared for by us, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts. IICorinthians 3:3
My pencil has two ends,
The sharp one writes,
The other mercifully erases.
In front of my eyes,
A silent white page,
Without a word lies.
Sometimes, along life’s journey
One must ponder about the rest of the way.
Both ends of my pencil are well worn,
The hard one can spin many a tale,
The soft one prefers to forget.
They are opposite but friends.
The red one erases the debts of the past
Relying on the black one
for a future that will last.
The back end warns the one in front,
“Be careful my friend, from now on,
Because my life is shorter than yours.
What will you do with your errors past,
When my life is over? When I am gone,
You´ll have to live with them at last”.
My God, my eraser is temporal,
But yours, Heavenly Father is eternal.
Thank you, for in your mercy, you forgive me.
With your love and truth, you protect my life.
Teach me to number my days aright
That I may gain a heart of wisdom.
One that is tender and loving like yours.
With your divine hand guide what is left of my pencil,
Writing on this blank page,
What has been written from time immemorial,
According to your eternal plan
And your perfect will.
Then, I will not have to erase any more
So many painful moments off my memory.
From now on, I want to use
What’s left of my pencil to write
What you will accomplish on this white page,
Your real and marvelous wonders.
I will no longer follow my empty dreams,
Neither will I build castles in Spain.
I will live in your present reality, even with pain,
Passed in your presence and at your service,
With the hope the future brings.
Amen.
Jean-Louis
August 29 2004
My Pencil in the Hand of God
(The rest of the poem as somebody would say)
Actually
there is a story behind this poem as with everything I write.
The
summer of 2005, I was waiting for an answer from the college to which
I had applied for a teaching position. After 3 months, the final list
of potential candidates to be interviewed was down to 12. I was
supposed to meet the program coordinator at 2:00 PM that day. She
arrived late and appeared overloaded and overwhelmed. She looked
around a bit for my file containing the resume, but couldn´t find
it.
Then, she said something that caught my attention. She
was anxious about finding a Christian teacher for the position. The
continuing education director told her not to worry about it because
the Lord was going to provide the teacher that they needed. She also
mentioned that her pastor said in the Sunday sermon that we are to
put “our pencil in the hand of God
Mind you, I had never
heard that expression in all my life. It came to me as the title of the
poem I wrote in 2004. I knew something unusual was at work, my ears
were perked up
waiting for her to begin the interview. She asked me to briefly tell
her about myself since she had forgotten the contents of my resume.
It was at that moment that I discovered that I had left a copy of the
poem in the back of my yellow pad. So instead of telling her about my
teaching experience, I simply handed her the poem telling her that
she might be interested in looking at it before I started.
When
she saw the title, her jaw dropped! After she was through reading,
she just said: " I don´t need to hear your life experience, you
are hired" and handed me a contract to sign.
Two
weeks
later, while I was changing the locks at a customer´s house I had another
confirmation from him, as he related a story
about a court proceeding during which the judge used the same exact words. The not so odd thing
is that he didn´t know anything about me writing a poem by that title.
The Lord
providential hand was at work in my life as he has always been since
the day I was born. He is good to us and always cares and guides his
children. I praise and thank him for his grace and mercy on us.
When the Shepherd speaks to or through His sheep, He always gives 2 or 3 confirmations coming from sources that are not familiar with a prayer, a vision or a dream of the believer. ( No, Don´t worry. I am not a Charismatic, Pentecostal believer, or New Apostolic Reformation . I have repented from and renounced all the occult powers from my New Age, Occult involvement and these happened rarely at certain crucial moments of my life when human wisdom, counsel or help will not do)
This is when I realized from the confirmations that this poem that I wrote in 2004 was from God to encourage, comfort and exhort my brothers and in addition acted as the key that unlocked the door through which I could walk in confidence knowing that the Author of the inspiration and the guide that gave me the opportunity and the blessing to exercise my vocation as a language teacher never sleeps nor slumber and looks to and fro throughout the earth to bless those who fear Him. This is the God we worship, love and serve.
It´s a good thing that I had this job in addition to my meager but sufficient retirement pension adequate for my needs. The Lord knew that I would have to sell my house and my business due to the shingles (disabilitating viral infection) that left me unable to work physically at my locksmith job in 2006.
I worked at the Community College until I moved to Brazil in 2009.
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