In kindergarten, I recall trying to hold onto my very round pencil Ms. Laird handed out to each student.  The pencil was of average length but the breadth of the pencil (the girth of the said writing instrument) made for an almost impossible task—holding the pencil under control inside my child-size hand.  You see, I am a child of the 1960s, and because I was born in that era, the educational practice was to begin the writing practice by Holding “Fat” Pencils Firmly As We Traced.

With these overly-large writing instruments, I began my journey of writing, and to be perfectly honest, I remember how difficult it was to trace the letters of the alphabet that Ms. Laird assigned to us.  Thus, we began the writing journey, progressing from Holding “Fat” Pencils Firmly As We Traced to expertly holding “Slim” Pencils in second grade when our educators handed them to us.  In fact, I recall the exact day Ms. Owens handed out the “Slim” Pencils and how these easy-to-hold writing instruments felt foreign in my hand.

To be honest, my classmates and I were able to adjust rather quickly and speed through our classwork so much more fluidity with these new “Slim” Pencils.

Maybe you are reading this discourse and wondering—

How does a pencil relate to the Word of God?

I read an article about an eighty-eight-year-old woman who spent years copying the Word of God.  In the article, the reporter interviewed this woman asking her:

“Why?  Why would she ever begin such an endeavor?”

Her response to the reporter’s questions resonated with me.

• What began as a selfish task led to one of conviction.
• What began as a way to fill the early hours of the morning led to the LORD convicting her soul.
• What began as simply something to do each morning led this woman to truly SEE the Word of God.

• Jesus did this—for us.
• The Spirit of God allowed Himself to be tempted by Satan—for us.
• The Son of God who willingly came to earth as the Son of man, who came to provide salvation—for us—allowed Himself to become physically famished from lack of food after a time of fasting—for us.
• Jesus allowed the tempter (the devil) to tempt Him—for us.

Then Jesus spoke the Word of God, the truth He knew we needed & would continually need when tempted by the devil.

Jesus did all this—for us—so that we would Hold Firmly to the Truth in the Word of God.

With the thoughts of how we learned to write by Holding “Fat” Pencils Firmly As We Traced &

With the thoughts of the eighty-eight-year-old woman who tasked herself with copying the entire Word of God &

With her admission that copying the Bible brought great conviction as she did &

With the words of Jesus firmly planted inside our mind, let each one of us ask ourselves today:

• What skills has GOD given to you?
• What abilities has GOD given to you?
• Why has the LORD given these skills and these certain abilities—to you (and to me)?
• What does the LORD expect of us when we consider these particular skills and abilities?
• How can we each use the skills and the abilities God has given to us—to bring honor to the LORD, to glorify HIM?
• Are we faithfully using that which the FATHER has given to us?

May we each be convicted today & tomorrow & the many following days the LORD gives us to live—as we hold onto God’s Holy Word—firmly holding it in our hearts & actively allowing it to alter our actions within our lives.