The Blotter

I bought an old fashioned blotter.
Not the kind you keep on your desk that is placed inside a leather rectangle.
This is the kind of blotter you hold in your hand.
This is the kind of blotter that is rolled over whatever you just wrote on paper.

I didn’t buy the blotter out of nostalgia.
I bought the blotter out of necessity.
It is a left handed thing.
That’s not a excuse; it is a real problem, since we write left to right on our paper.

Right handed people do not have this problem.
The hand of a right handed person is always after the words just written.
When I write with my left hand, my hand is over the line of print as I move it along.
Smearing and smudging happens often.

Visualize it.
I write with my left hand.
My hand is on top of my writing all along the page.
The ink will be on the side of my hand and often smudges the words I just wrote.

I like to use a certain kind of gel pen.
The flow of the pen in my hand is quite nice and almost effortless.
However, the ink smears terribly.
My left hand moves over the words I just wrote.

I remember seeing a wooden blotter that could gently rock over the words on paper.
It had a small knob as a handle.
Blotter paper was on the curved bottom.
The rocking motion captured the ink on the blotter paper without smudging.

I had no idea how to find one.
I didn’t want an antique blotter just for display.
I wanted a functional blotter that I could keep on my desk.
The blotter would not solve the hand over the writing problem, but it would help with smudges.

I found it!
It is officially called: Wooden Rocker Desk Rocking Ink Blotter, Antique.
The words in the description seemed a bit redundant.
The word, antique, was to describe the finish of the wood, not the age of the blotter.

I was so excited to use it.
I had some cards to write.
I tried to be aware of my left hand running over the words I just wrote.
Before I put the card in the envelope, I used the blotter over the ink.

I looked at the blotter paper.
There were smudges there.
There were no smudges on the card itself.
Success!

I imagined Jane Austen using a blotter such as this while she wrote, Pride and Prejudice.
I imagined Beatrix Potter blotting the text of Peter Rabbit and Jemima Puddle-duck.
I imagined Abigail Adams blotting her correspondence to her husband, John.
I was in good company.

I, even I, am he who blots out your transgressions, for my own sake, and remembers your sins no more. (Isaiah 43:25)

Even though it is a human tendency to try to be like God, it is an impossibility.
Even when we think we are in control, we are gravely mistaken.
Adam and Eve sinned because they wanted to be like God.
It is an unattainable goal; we fool ourselves into thinking that we even come close.

We puff ourselves up and think that we can be like God.
One fact negates that assumption.
God blots out our transgressions.
God does not remember our sins.

We keep our lists.
We remember the times we have been wronged.
We remember the unkind words that were spoken to us.
We remember all the things that someone failed to do for us.

Where is our blotter?
Are we even capable of not remembering?
God is perfect; it is impossible for Him to forget.
God chooses not to remember.

We may try to forget, but minutes later, the grievance passes through our minds again.
We may say that it doesn’t matter, but we replay the offense and it still bothers us.
We cannot blot out wrongs that were done to us, even when we say we can.
We are not God.

Forgiving is hard work that is impossible to do apart from Him.
With God’s help, we can forgive.
Forgiving is necessary because we are captive to the things that have a hold on us.
We need a blotter.

We will never have a blotter like God.
The smudges are always there, even when we say they are forgotten.
God blots out our sins as far as the east is from the west.
God chooses to remember them no more.

I have my wooden blotter on my desk  to remind me.

2 responses to “The Blotter”

1. So thankful for this truth!

   Reply

   • Paula,
     AMEN!
     Me, too!
     Gina

     Reply