Pencil in Your Hand Bob Halligan Jr.	(Based on 1 vote)

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Lyrics

Lookin' down's gotta be a chore
on the hatred, pain and war;
this is not what you made us for.

Some people say that it's all your fault,
that you just don't care at all,
you're not a window, you're a wall.

If you're thinkin' you'd better
write your people a love letter, well,

Let me be the pencil in your hand.
Let me be the pencil in your hand.
Let me be an instrument,
that we might better understand.
Let me be the pencil in your hand.

If you mean to educate,
make us really radiate,
how ?bout the ones sayin' it's too late?

Don't just sit there send us love,
(just) let it drop from up above.
Are you too sad to give it a shove?

Well, I'd imagine it's hard.
But cha gotta send us a get-well card.

Help me live your love;
I know I can do better.
Let me write your love
in great big letters.

Artist Reflection

"Pencil in Your Hand" is a Paul McCartney-esque stab at encouraging evangelism among us young people. (Well, I was young once and I have my memories!!) The idea: God as generating the "copy" and us as writing implements, a means of conveyance of the message that is not ours, but becomes ours to pass along. I suppose that's what the scriptures are, a sort of newspaper (albeit a Sunday version with a lot of supplements) about God’s comings and goings. The gospel writers, Paul, Peter, and all the Old Testament writers were "pencils" long before us, so we seem to be walking in hallowed footsteps!

In the song I suggest that God must be worn out, or at least frustrated, with our unresponsiveness to His Word. It's a bit presumptuous of me to ascribe moods to God, but we can get more interested in someone who is more like us. The right way to view that, of course, is that we look somewhat like Him. (I'm betting Tom Selleck looks more like Him than I do.)

I guess the trick is to not "editorialize," or "spin" the message based on our human foibles or "small T" traditions. Part of that means really learning the scriptures and the church teachings (that's "capitol T" Tradition). This is something I happen to be engaged in as I write... I feel there's always more we can learn, and often feel terribly unequal to the "pencil" status. Even if we are not theologians or Bible scholars, there is some important part of God's message that each of us can impart to others. So never view yourself as unworthy of "pencilhood!" Write on!!

-- Bob Halligan, Jr.