THE SHEPHERD’S CORNER

Today we have come to the third Advent week and the third candle, which is called the Shepherd’s Candle, signifies joy. Perhaps the word “joy” is an understatement to describe what the shepherds felt upon seeing the angel of the Lord and meeting the Savior of the world in a manger in Bethlehem. They were utterly overjoyed!

We are still overjoyed by the coming of Jesus, the Son of God, to the world. Through Him we have received forgiveness of sins and with Him, we shall walk through this life till we reach our final home in heaven. However, for some of us this year’s Christmas is not the same as last year’s or the year before last. Without our loved one, Christmas is not only different; it is also painfully difficult. You see,
Christmas is the time of the year in which memory of the past becomes so present. We secretly wish we could skip this season.

Mother Teresa called herself, God’s pencil. It’s a rather cute way of describing herself but please listen to her explanation, “I am a little pencil in God’s hands. He does the thinking. He does the writing. He does everything and sometimes it is really hard because it is a broken pencil and He has to sharpen it a little more.” Oh, how true! We are broken pencils, as a result of the loss of our loved ones, the endless problems we’ve faced, the anxiety over the uncertainty of life, our failures, mistakes we’ve made, and our sicknesses.

But, as Mother Teresa said, God can sharpen us, and He will, so He can use us to write His stories. What a comfort to know this! What a comfort it is to know that we don’t have to do the thinking or the writing. God will do both because He’s the One with the story; we’ll just need to surrender to His hands. Write, Lord, write! Here I am, your little and broken pencil. You see, there’s joy in being a pencil.

Pastor Paul