Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
Galatians 6:9
So, I conquered a Sharpie marker today!
Some time in the last few years by accident a permanent marker was broken and splattered on one of our church’s metal doors, leaving it covered with ink. It was not attended to right away and therefore about twenty large spots and streaks marred the doors. It has bothered me for some time because every time I pass that door I know that door should be shiny, polished and clean without any black marks on it; however, I didn’t think I had any way to bring correction to this furniture injustice.
Then it came to me: an old teacher hack I remembered from my whiteboard days! If one accidentally uses a permanent marker on a whiteboard, it can be easily removed by going over the mark with a dry erase marker. BRILLIANT! So, I grabbed a never-before-used Expo marker and covered over each of the spots and streaks with the dry erase marker…it was almost too easy! Until I wiped it away to find that the permanent marker remained. Turns out, this teacher hack does not work so well on metal. Perhaps it may have worked right after the ink had been spilled, but the ink had been on the door so long it would not easily acquiesce to my attention. Either way, that dry erase marker did not appear to touch the marks. Then I looked at one of the streaks and ever-so-slightly did the tip of it seem to smear and look like it could be wiped away. I was tempted to just walk away defeated, but that little glimmer of hope began to arise. If multiple swipes of the dry-erase marker were applied coupled with a little scrubbing, maybe time and persistence would win out.
So for the better part of two mornings I would apply the Expo to the spots, wait a bit and scrub at them. Believe me, every time I did this, only the barest hint of progress was apparent. One spot might look as if the tiniest bit of it was wiped off, but overall it looked like it was not working. With every failed attempt, though, faith began to rise in me and I got more and more determined that this should work. I gotta say it was probably after about 20 applications that it truly began to look like this could be making a a significant impact. I realized that though, at the first, it didn’t look like much was happening, my consistency in applying the remedy was going to eventually pay off. And it did! I just finished removing the last spots. If I had thought to take pictures before I had started, you really would marvel at how much improved this door looks now. In fact, had one not known this door was marked you’d not be able tell now how blemished it actually was.
God began to speak to me about what I ought to take away from this experience. Next week, I’ll tell you what I learned from my Sharpie marker conquest!!