Crayons

School is starting, so it's the time of year when I believe everyone should receive a new box of crayons.  For as long as I can remember, a new box of crayons has signaled several things to me.  It's time for a fresh start.  Just like the first tulips that press through the ground in early spring, a brand new box of crayons speaks of hope, new possibilities, and sparkling beginnings. As a little girl, school could be conquered successfully because I had new crayons.  A new box of crayons says unlimited creativity to me. Imagine all the  pictures that could be considered, created, crafted and colored.  With every new box, I'm led to believe again that I can make something amazing.  I have the potential of Rembrandt, Monet, Picasso, Michelangelo and Andy Warhol at my fingertips.  My inner child speaks confidently: this is my year, my moment.  A new box of crayons opens my eyes to wonder, especially if I've been granted a Crayola Big Box.  So many colors, so many options, so many combinations, the ability to blend and create new colors….  It's all so marvelous and filled with eager anticipation for the first chance to pull the first color from the box and place it to paper.  A whole world yet unexplored is just waiting to be discovered with the aid of my new box of crayons. 

I admit, even as an "older adult," I gaze in fascinated reverence at the new Crayola boxes on display along with the myriad of other school supplies.  Colorful  notebooks are wonderful, one of each please.  A new pencil  box?  Yes,  please.  Pencils and Pens?  Well, only if I must.  And then I stand there, admiring all the different sizes of crayon boxes.  The small box offers me the challenge of what can I manage with a limited selection?  It dares me to test my imagination boundaries.  The middle box calls to me with more options, and good bang for my buck.  It's reasonably priced, and offers more of those "fun colors" that my inner child delights to just read the name on the side of the crayon.  The Big Box taunts me: can you handle  me?  Can you get full use out of all I'm offering? I stare at it longingly… every year.  I'm passed the need for a new box of crayons, and yet every summer's end finds me standing in a Walmart aisle, staring at the Big Box and trying desperately to rationalize a purchase.

It's fascinating to me that something as simple as a box of crayons holds such sway over me. God has been challenging me and speaking to me through my Crayola Dreams.  God is the true author of new beginnings.  He is the God of second chances and loves offering hope, new possibilities and sparkling beginnings.  Ephesians 4:22-34 says, "…take  off your former way of life, the old self that is corrupted by deceitful desires, to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, and to put on the new self, the one created according to God's likeness in righteousness and purity of the truth."  When God pulls out His crayons, He colors me in to look like Him.  This grabs my heart as I imagine God sitting at his dining room table with crayons scattered all around, a twinkle in his eye and a smile bursting forth from deep within.  He selects a delicious color and applies it to the paper of my life. He begins to draw and create and craft a vision that is me in the process of becoming who He imagines me to be.  Just as much as my inner child thrills at coloring in a picture I've found, or creating a new image from some untold story in my head, God delights to color me in with His Spirit, His characteristics, His ideal.  Colossians 3:9-17 reminds me that I am holy and dearly loved, and that I am to look like my Creator.  I'm to be colored with compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.  The background of this "Me Artwork" is love and forgiveness.  I'm to be outlined with God's peace and thankfulness and shaded with God's Word dwelling in me.  Jesus signs  His name to me.  He claims me as His masterpiece.  There is a whole world, yet unexplored, just waiting for me.  It's found in my obedience and willingness to discover and follow God's will for me.  It makes no difference whether God uses the smallest box, the medium box or even if He pulls out His Big Box to create the new me.  He knows just what to do to renew me according to His own image.  He is the Master Artist, the original Creator.  Isaiah 40:28 reminds me that "The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the whole earth… there is no limit to His understanding." 

Oh sweet Lord of Heaven and earth, create me in your image.  Color me to look just like you.  Grant me willingness and patience as you craft me.  Keep me from choosing the colors and handing them to you.  Enable me to trust you more completely and be held in wonder at your process.  Fill in the background of my life so that I'm surrounded and enveloped by the truth of your love and forgiveness.  Outline each element of who you imagine me to be with your peace and with the gratitude that flows from trust in your creativity.  Jesus, sign your name to me.  May your signature be the most impressive thing there is to see, for You are who gives me my value.  Thank you for how you are coloring me, thank you for the lessons I'm already learning.  Amen and amen.