The Story of the Pencil.

A boy was watching his grandmother write a letter. He asked her, “Are you writing a story about us?” She stopped writing and said, “Actually, I am writing about you. But more important than the words is the pencil I’m using. I hope you will be like this pencil when you grow up.”

The boy looked at the pencil, but he didn’t see anything special. “It’s just like any other pencil I’ve ever seen,” he said.

“That depends on how you look at things,” his grandmother said. “It has five qualities that, if you manage to hang on to them, will make you a person who is always at peace with the world.”

She then proceeded to explain the five qualities of the pencil:

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

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.

The pencil always allows us to use an eraser to rub out any mistakes. This means that correcting something we did wrong is not necessarily a bad thing; it helps us to keep on the right path.

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 fifth 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.

The Moral: You have the potential to do great things in life, but you must remember that you are not alone, that you can learn from your mistakes, that you should focus on what’s inside you, and that you should be mindful of the impact you have on others.

I hope this story motivates you to pursue your dreams and overcome your obstacles.