Devotion 381 - Crayons

Sometimes life sneaks up on you and sometimes it writes on your heart.

I have a wall in my bedroom.  When I lay in bed at night, when I read to my children, when I wake in the dawn hours, I see this wall.

 

It is perhaps the favorite wall in my home.  I remember when it was painted.  I carefully laid everything on the floor before it was hung on the wall.  I wanted it to be perfect.

 It was important to me that there would be something special on this wall.  Something that would draw memories, something that would cause inspiration and something that would speak peace.

I chose an old French shelf that Brian and I had found at a market.  I chose four photos that have great significance, each one featuring one of our children.  I chose a framed print from an exhibit we saw many years ago and then here and there are things that both my husband and children have made.   On the French shelf is a carving Beau made and pottery Bailey fired.

Each piece of that wall speaks to me. 

It speaks peace, or it did, until something foreign moved onto the shelf.

As is our custom I read a chapter of a book and then we prayed.  I glanced at the wall and my beloved shelf, and there amongst the pottery and the carving sat a paper cup filled with crayons.

I looked at the little gal sitting next to me in the bed.  In reality she cannot reach that shelf, so that in itself presented one line of thoughts, climbing on furniture and a broken old chest that sits under the shelf.  Then there was the fact that crayons had made their way into my bedroom instead of safely tucked away in a desk or on a table.

And then there was my beloved wall seemingly violated by disorder and a “My Little Pony” paper cup filled with colors.

 

Ava seemed unemotional about the violation or the location and simply said, “in case I want to color Mom.”

I was too weary to remove the trespassing crayons before bed and woke to the same colorful addition staring me down the next morning.  It was not lost on me that each child has something creative on that shelf, all except our youngest.  It was also not lost on me that I was entirely too protective of this crazy wall.

I have heard more than one preacher warn me not to put Jesus on a shelf.  You know the sermon.  We keep Him up there until we need Him?

We have all heard it, I would venture a guess we have all done it.  But that was not what these crayons were writing to me.

No, somewhere deep in my heart, God was showing me something.  There is something wildly creative about Him.  Why in the world He chose to lend His image to us and then seal us with freedom is beyond me.

Why does He not clone the good people and stick with that?  Why do we not all think and act like Billy Graham and Corrie Ten Boom.  Instead He hands us eyes to see, ears to hear, talents in abundance and lets us run free. 

He gives us all this freedom and then Beloved I believe we turn around and take His.

We know He has a bucket of crayons.  We know He can write on our hearts and whisper in our ears.  The question is, do we let Him?

I am a huge fan of order.  I love a nice schedule.  Knowing what I am about day to day and week to week sings to my soul.  Frankly, being in charge is a whole lot like candy to my spirit.

But then I miss Him.

I miss what He was trying to do setting a problem in my path.  I miss what He was trying to say when a stranger looked my way.

I miss focusing on the Holy Spirit because the walls of life block my vision.

Oh Dear one.  Where has He stashed crayons?

Are they in the nudging of a talent that would make you stick out of the crowd?  Are they in the letter you know you need to write?  Are they in the words you are to share with a neighbor or a co worker?  Are they in the hug you have withheld from the person who has hurt your soul?

Find them.  Be the page He wants to write on.

 "This is the covenant I will make with the people of Israel after that time," declares the LORD. "I will put my law in their minds and write it on their hearts. I will be their God, and they will be my people.”  Jeremiah 31:33

"If the devil cannot make us bad, he will make us busy.”Corrie Ten Boom