If you see a good old number two pencil lying on the desk, you may not think one way or the other about the thing. We’ve seen a thousand of them in our lifetimes. A neat wooden dowel, painted bright yellow, a line of lead running right down the center, nifty pink hat.
But think about that pencil. It could contain so many wondrous things. There might be the next breakthrough novel lying there, a story that will affect the minds of millions of people. Perhaps, there is an equation waiting to be written, one that will lead to the development of a drug that will cure cancer. It could be a song, that will soothe a thousand breaking hearts. Or maybe it is a grocery list, with food items for a shut-in neighbor.
That pencil could be anything. A game of tic-tac-toe. A silly face. A line of measure for building a house. Or a mark on a wall of the height of a child. That pencil. Lying there.
It is an amazing thing. But I can almost guarantee that that pencil is not sitting there thinking, “I don’t have it in me.” Or. “Dang it. I wish I could just get the lead out.”
Nope.
It is, however, waiting, patiently, to go into use. To fulfill its purpose. To make its mark.
We are all pencils. We just have to start doing whatever it is we do. Without fear of making mistakes. That’s what our nifty pink hats are for. We just have to make one little mark at a time.
And the marks we make in this world could be anything. They are ours to make.
Writing a letter, planting a garden, feeding the birds, fixing a hole in the wall, mending a blanket, solving a problem, cooking a pot of soup, singing a song, petting a dog, sweeping a sidewalk. It goes far, and wide.
At some point, we all have asked ourselves about our life’s purpose. And perhaps some of us have discovered such a thing. But I believe there are many levels of purpose. And it is finding the magnificence in the ordinary tasks, the ones that we are so capable of, and good at, is the greatest purpose of all. It is what makes the world go around. Those things that we accomplish, create, fulfill, perform. From taking out the trash to knitting a sweater. And when we see our amazing abilities in this and give gratitude for our competence, our talent, our skills, then we are truly finding purpose in each moment.
Patch the wall with plaster. Dig the hole and plant the seed. Put the patty cake in the oven. Life, and our purpose, is all around. And it’s all inside. Waiting to make its mark.
=============
“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.”
― Ralph Waldo Emerson
=============
“I want to live my life in such a way that when I get out of bed in the morning, the devil says, “aw shit, he’s up!”
― Steve Maraboli
============
Believe in your heart that you’re meant to live a life full of passion, purpose, magic and miracles.”
― Roy T. Bennett, The Light in the Heart
============
