An old man told me a story from second grade: One day his teacher picked up a piece of chalk and made a small mark on the blackboard. Then she stepped back and asked the class, “What do you see?” Eager hands shot up: “A chalk mark!” The teacher said, “And what about the blackboard—don’t you see it?” Seventy-five years later, the old man still remembers.
I have been remembering, too. The story helps me to notice when my whole focus is on the latest “chalk mark”--a business deal going south; a friend’s illness; a dreaded phone call; the latest disheartening news article; a troubled relationship. The story invites me to step back and ask myself, “And what about the blackboard?” Yes, the chalk mark is there, but it isn’t the whole picture—not by a long shot. My perspective broadens. My muscles relax. I breathe fresh air. Fear and worry melt away. I can see that the blackboard is very big, and I am very small. Then I can ask, “Father, in this very big world of Yours, what is my small part today?”
“I will do at each moment, without anxiety, . . . the work that [God] assigns me. I will leave the rest without concern; it is not my affair.” Francois Fenelon
“I have finished the work which You gave me to do.” John 17:4