Magic Slate

One of the best toys I had as a child was a Magic Slate. For those too young to know, it is a piece of dry erase board the size of a notebook, with plastic cover. You can write on it with a stylus (a piece of wood shaped like a pencil). When you’re tired of it, you simply lift up the plastic cover and the writing disappears – like magic! I used to enjoy writing things on it that I didn’t want anyone to see, and lifting up the plastic cover when someone tried to look. There are newer versions of this toy, now electronic, with erase or delete buttons instead of a plastic cover.

We often talk about starting on a clean slate. Since it is the start of the new year, most of us want to start fresh, start anew – put the past behind and just look forward to the future. But this is easier said than done. For someone my age, I have already accumulated too much emotional baggage. I want to await with great hope and anticipation, but fear and worry weigh me down. I want to have a happy outlook but past hurts, resentments and sins haunt me. So how do I wipe the slate clean? Alone, I can’t do it. But looking at the cross, I know that Jesus has already done it for me.

I want to use my magic slate this year – erase all my fears, anxieties, hurts, resentments and sins. I will be hopeful. I will be happy. I will be blessed. As I mark a major milestone in my life, I claim that this will be my best year yet.

“You will show me the path to life, abounding joy in your presence, the delights at your right hand forever.” (Psalm 16:11)