He clutched it. He pinched it between his thumb and index finger and held it up, eyeing it as if it were a diamond. He rolled it between his fingers and then across the table.
"Smell it," he urged.
The question on his paper asked "What number sentence best represents an estimate of how many people attended the park on Monday and Tuesday?". But it was much too hard to concentrate on that.
He was in love......with a simple, round, orange smelly eraser.
He had bought it that day at the library. And when I came to grab a small group of third graders for remediation, he brought it with him. He opened up his math workbook just as did the other two students. But rather than becoming engrossed in the word problems in front of us, this little guy couldn't get his mind off of that eraser.
"I just love it so much!" he grinned.
I tried to capture his attention, tapping my finger on his math page. Normally I would have told him to put it away in his pocket. I guess I was weak. I mean, who couldn't be enamored, being witness to such happiness? As I asked the kids to line up to go back to class, I asked him if I could smell his eraser one more time, half for kicks, and half because I really wanted to. He proudly held open his hand and allowed me to take in the orange aroma once again. The other two girls followed suit and took in its sweet smell. I suppose his love for that "fixer of mistakes" had rubbed off on us a little.
Such a picture he painted for me
-a picture of a child who was swept up.
Overtaken by the simple. Not distracted, but wholly focused. And neither I nor my repeated requests to bring him back to earth were granted. He was single-minded...overcome with admiration.
On any other given day I wouldn't have allowed such behavior. He was missing out on an opportunity to strengthen his problem-solving skills. But that day I realized that maybe the life that's consistently snatched up by the world's demands is the one that's lacking. We're missing out when we lose the ability to focus on what matters. Some times it isn't math.
We're like that church in Ephesus; we forget our first love. We're consumed with Facebook and our list of things that need to be fixed. We rush to go at the first sight of the green light and don't stop, even when our heads have hit the pillow for the rest God gives his beloved. And it seems when we do try and put our heart on better things, the world finger-taps the page, luring us back to its grips.
It shouldn't be.
We should delight in such a sweet aroma that surrounds us in Christ. And the fragrance of a life lived singly for Christ should be so sweet that it takes hold of the people around us ....just like my little friend with the smelly eraser.
....Thank God! He has made us his captives and continues to lead us along in Christ's triumphal procession. Now he uses us to spread the knowledge of Christ everywhere, like a sweet perfume. Our lives are a Christ-like fragrance rising up to God.......to those being saved, we are a life-giving perfume.
2 Corinthians 2:14,15
If you don't want to miss a post, don't forget to subscribe by typing your email in the subscription box.