people are like pencils

Father Darwin, the officiating priest during one Sunday mass in our church shared a very enlightening homily.

He said that people are like pencils.

Pencils leave a mark

If we use the pencil to write on something, it will obviously leave a mark.

Just like people, we leave a mark in the lives that we touch and in the situations we get ourselves into.

Pencils have an eraser at the tip

Pencil marks, if not to the liking of who made the mark, can be erased by the eraser at the tip.

Just like us, we have a choice to change the marks that we have made.

We may not literally erase these but we can do something to change those marks.

Make use of it as a learning tool that we may not repeat making these undesirable marks again.

There are so many pencil designs to choose from

If we go to a bookstore to buy a pencil, we are presented with many choices.

So many designs, colors and shapes.

But what's really important is not the physical design of the pencil but rather what is inside the pencil -- the lead that will dictate the kind of mark it will make.

Just like people, it is not important that you are physically pretty, that you have diamonds and other material things. What is important is what you are inside.

The kind of person you are dictates the kind of mark you will leave in all that you touch and encounter.

Life is what we make it to be. Challenges and problems are a constant part of our lives.  It is up to us how we will deal with these and how we will make the best of what we have.  Our actions are our own doings. We will definitely make mistakes. But it is up to us to learn from and correct these mistakes if we still have a chance.  Like a pencil, it is not how we look like or what we have, it is how we are inside that matters.

People are like pencils.