Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Maylan Schurch
Friday, March 15, 2024
Late last month I stopped at a thrift store and took a swing through the office supply section. I stopped at the display you see above. I’d never seen anything like this at a thrift store before.
As you can see, this is a quill pen, made with a beautiful white feather. Actually, it’s a hybrid pen—the feather provides the nostalgia, but the pen point is metal. There’s even a little bottle of ink into which to dip the point.
To me, what’s poignant isn’t the pen and its paraphernalia, but the inscription on the box lid. Do you see the white box to the right of the word “Out”? I added that box to cover up a name and a pair of initials. Because that’s not a period after “Out,” but a comma. This inscription wasn’t mass-produced, but individually ordered by the giver of the pen. There’s a name, and then a pair of initials. The name is the pen’s recipient, and the initials belong to the giver.
There’s another piece of poignancy too. The pen is pristine, and may never have been used. And this set is no longer a treasured keepsake from an admirer, but a $2.99 item in a thrift shop.
Who knows what happened? Maybe the “favorite writer” uses not pens but keyboards to craft poetry or prose. Maybe the admiration wasn’t two-way. Or the recipient may be no longer alive.
Whatever the case, writing is important. God thinks so. “In the beginning,” John 1 begins, “was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.” Verse 14 of the same chapter tells us who the Word is: “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.”
Words are important. Jesus thinks so: “For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.” (Matthew 12:37 NIJV) So however we create words, whether by speaking or writing, it’s serious business. Check out more Bible truth about words, at the link below: