Story of A Pencil

I came across this article & find it quite motivating! Just to share... :)

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. At one point, he asked, "Are you writing a story about what we've done? Is it a story about me?"

His grandmother stopped writing her letter and said to her grandson, "I am writing about you, actually, but more important than the words is I'm using this pencil. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up."

Intrigued, the boy looked at the pencil & said "It didn't seem very special. 'But it's just like any other pencil I've ever seen!"

"That depends on how you look at things. It has five qualities & which, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world."

1st quality: 'You are capable of great things, but you must never forget that there is a hand guiding your steps. We call that hand of God, and He always guides us according to His will.'

2nd quality: 'Now and then, I have to stop writing and use a sharpener. That makes the pencil suffer a little, but afterwards, he's much sharper. So you, too,must learn to bear certain pains and sorrows, because they will make you a better person.'

3rd quality: 'The pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps to keep us on the road to justice.'

4th quality: 'What really matters in a pencil is not its wooden exterior, but the graphite inside. So always pay attention to what is happening inside you.'

Finally, the pencil's 5th quality: 'It always leaves a mark. In just the same way, you should know that everything you do in life will leave a mark, so try to be conscious of that in your every action.'

*Story adapted from Like the Flowing River