Crossing the Creeks... on the Way to The River

YOUR BOX OF CRAYONS.... Do you like to color? If you do, do you like a page from a coloring book, a clean sheet of paper or a professional canvas? And how about those big boxes of crayons that have 64 intense colors... wow.. now that's a whole array of colors! I'm always amazed to see little children when they start to color. First, there is the selection of what to color, which crayon to start with and then you can see the wheels turning of what are we going to draw or what will it look like when we're finished. And then there's the stages of coloring. There's the one color swiped across or “ground into” the paper when you're first beginning to color and then we work up to staying within the lines and getting the perspective correct. But if you look at some modern art, you wonder at which stage these adults are still in. I think I'll always be confused on what people see in modern art that looks like paint thrown everywhere and they call it art. But one thing about coloring is always true... however you do it and whatever you create, its an original. When we were first learning to color, I remember Mom putting our “art” work on the refrigerator and being so proud of us for what we had done. It was a far cry from a Rembrandt but we felt taller than Rembrandt because Mom and Dad made us feel like we had conquered the world in our accomplishments. Well, do you think Our Father feels the same way about His children when they color? He gives us a box of coloring crayons and calls it “life” and in this box there are so many different colors and they're sitting there at our disposal to chose from and to make our “mark” with. Then He hands us a clean sheet of paper and calls it “today” and away we go. Have you ever thought for a moment about just an ordinary day of your life being a page in a blank coloring book? All that we do each and every day is a “use” of what God has given to us for that day. All that we have and do comes from Him. We can't go to the grocery store without resources provided by Him, we can't witness to anyone about Christ without God first introducing that person to us and then filling us with what to say, and we can't fall asleep at night without God first having given us life and the rhythm of a body that will sustain us while we sleep. So for our coloring project each day, God provides the paper and the crayons. The rest is up to us. What do we draw and which crayon do we use first? Do we grab the yellow and spread sunshine to others, or do we grab the purple and show someone that God is to be honored, or do we grab the black and walk the dark moments with someone? All the colors sit in front of you and your little hand can grab and use all of them. But please remember this, when you're finished with that page for the day, Your Father wants to hang it on His refrigerator. And let us not forget that God provided the paper, the crayons, the hands to hold the crayons and He holds the picture you have drawn. He does all of this for us and then smiles at His children for what they “accomplished”. We can do nothing without Our Father and yet He smiles like a loving parent does with a toddler who is coloring for the first time. The tie that binds the Father and the child is everlasting. “Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of Heaven.” (Matthew 18:3) God provides all we need and God created us all to be artists but its our choice of what colors we use.