She wiped the eraser dust off the piece of paper, feeling challenged and frustrated, she took a deep sigh and tried again. It’s been a long time since she had done any math let alone this hard stuff. While working a difficult algebra problem, she wore out several erasers on her pencils. She ended up with a long pencil with a stubby eraser on the other end. She realized the more she learned and got those formulas down pat, she erased less. Hmm, so if you know more, the less you have to erase. 

She got on about her day and could feel her tummy flip flop inside. A nervousness and excitement of returning to school and creeping doubts about this math class bounced in her mind like a rubber ball out of a bubble gum machine. “Can I do this.” she pondered.  It was class day again and she was off to class with her new book bag and fancy pink calculator. After the class, she knew that she needed extra help understanding a formula, so she asked the instructor to explain this problem and why she could not get it. He asked her to come to the office for a few minutes and he would help. Hooray! She was getting some help. A sense of relief came over her. I think I can, I think I can.

Sitting on the stiff chair in his office, feeling like a little kid needing guidance, she looked around his office at the many math posters and books. He came in and asked which problem was giving her trouble and immediately they began. He gave her a similar problem, “Now work on this one” he said, while going through the papers and folders on his desk. She looked at the problem, took a deep breath and began to work it out the best she knew. Like a kid on a bicycle that you just took off the training wheels, a little wobbly but moving slow. She showed him the answer and he said “No, try again.” So she turned the short blue pencil upside down and proceeded to erase the whole problem. “No! don’t erase what you did, put a mark on it or cross it out, so you can see back in your notes of what NOT to do next time.” 

At that moment, she had an epiphany, and it was as if the world slowed down for a second and froze in time. The words she heard pierced into her soul revealing a truth. She thought about life and how sometimes we wish we could just erase a few things. Mistakes, stupid choices, bad decisions, selfish moves, angry words, a scenario in your life that went the wrong way. She reflected on her past and thought “Guess I would need a pretty big eraser.” 

That night she prayed about the eraser thing and God spoke to her heart, “I am the only one with the eraser.” He erases what needs to be erased and we have our notes of life that can be looked back on. We recall lessons we have learned of ‘what not to do next time’ and lessons of ‘do it differently.’ I could never find an eraser that big, that’s why we must take everything to God in prayer and let the Master look at our problems. “I am so glad that God has an eraser big enough to handle any problem or test of life that we go through” she confidently pondered. It was getting late and she nestled into bed and the pillow felt just a little softer tonight.

"Forgetting those things which are behind, and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus."

Philippians 3:13-14