pencils.

i got this offer from coach the other day. bring it in and get free pencils.

i didn't think twice about it until this morning. i mean i don't need pencils. i don't let my littles within 50 feet of them for fear what would happen to the house or lead poisoning...

but then this am. at church. our minister spoke of his trip to kenya earlier this summer. and his point (no pun intended) was about how a simple pencil can change the world.

you see, they collected pencils before they left. simple pencils. to take to a school in africa. because you see, the kids there don't have pencils. so they took 50lbs. of pencils. two suitcases full. that's a lot of pencils. something that we all just take for granted. don't think twice about. throw out when they break or when we can't find a sharpener. so expendable.


but the kids in this school. were estatic about receiving a pencil. a simple school room pencil. he said it was the only school supply they had. the only one. and i'm looking at a list a mile long of things i need to round up for little one for kindergarten. a huge list. huge. and these kids have a pencil.

it's amazing how much we have. and how little others have. how little. and how excited they were over receiving one pencil. he showed pictures. i wish i had copies. these kids were excited. gleeful. laughing. beside themselves. over a single pencil.

so this coach offer had me thinking. what if all those pencils that they had made. especially for their launch of their new poppy line, were instead delivered to kids, to people that needed them. instead of people that just want them to resell on ebay, to toss in the trash, to stuff in a closet, but to people who really wanted them? how cool would that be? think of the millions of smiles that could have created.

it's the simple things. i know it is. it's just hard to remember sometimes. especially in this world. the simple things that matter the most to people.

just think. how could one thing as insignificant as a pencil change your day? your life? your world?