Trip down memory lane plus life lessons from a broken pencil ❤️🙌
It’s exam season here in NSW, and I’m sure in other parts of Australia — not forgetting our students back home in PNG too! A big shout-out and all the very best to everyone sitting their final exams. 🙏❤️
On another note, nothing quite triggers those core childhood memories like spotting a broken pencil on the train seat in front of you! 😂✏️
This photo, taken a couple of weeks ago, took me right back — way back to my primary school days in Baruni, then Vabukori, followed by Marianville High School and Sogeri National High School. Ah, those were the days! No internet, Google, AI or any of the other bells and whistles we have today. 😅 We made do with what we had, one broken pencil at a time! ✏️😂
Hands up if this image triggers a few childhood memories! 😅 Did you notice the well-worn eraser at the end? And who remembers that end being chewed down to smithereens? Still not triggered?
What about the pencil sharpened so many times that it ended up shorter than your pinky finger? 🤔😂 I could go on, but I’m sure we all have our own little stories about the humble broken pencil.
Anyway, back to the broken pencil!
I have no idea who left it there. It may have belonged to a student who decided it had served its purpose and was no longer of any value — perhaps because exams were over, or simply because it was no longer usable in its current state.
But here’s the thing: what one person sees as having no value may still be useful to someone else. All it might need is a little sharpening before it can be used again.
Same pencil, different hands, different value.
And therein lies a much bigger lesson in this humble, broken pencil. ❤️
We are all given life by God. Just as He breathed life into Adam, every new day we wake up is a gift from Him. A gift we should never take for granted.
Some lives brand new, like newborn babies. Others have been tried, tested, sharpened by life’s experiences and perhaps feel a little worn out. And then there’s the rest of us somewhere in between. We are all at different stages of life’s journey, shaped by the different experiences and circumstances life hands us.
But one thing remains constant: the gift of life that comes from God daily, and every life has value.
Lamentations 3:22-23 NKJV
“[22] Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, Because His compassions fail not. [23] They are new every morning; Great is Your faithfulness.”
He doesn’t place a greater value on one life over another. We are all equally precious in His eyes. And imagine what a wonderful and beautiful world this would be if we learned to see and value one another through God’s eyes — embracing each other, imperfections and all, and recognising that our worth is not determined by how new, polished, useful or worn out we may appear.
What the world considers broken, God still sees as valuable. What the world discards, He can restore, repurpose and use for His divine purposes. Our worth is not diminished by our brokenness, our past or the seasons we’ve been through. In God’s hands, even what appears broken can still serve a beautiful purpose.
After all, a broken pencil is still a pencil. And life, no matter what season it is in, is still a gift from God. ❤️🙏
Psalms 139:7-11 NKJV
“[7] Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? [8] If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there. [9] If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, [10] Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me. [11] If I say, “Surely the darkness shall fall on me,” Even the night shall be light about me;”
To God be the glory always 🙏
