Purple Skies And Blue Grass

Have you ever tried to color a picture with a four year old? Their little hands grip the crayons and they often want to work on the same section as you. Crayons end up clashing until you give up and move on to another part. Some of them try to stay inside the lines and end up spilling over less. Others don't seem to recognize that there are lines at all. The color choices are generally creative too; they'll make the skies purple and the grass blue. Matching isn't a concern, and realistic portrayals aren't something they're generally aware of. If you were attempting to color something meant for display or masterpiece quality, you have chosen the wrong partner. They just drag their crayons around the paper, scribbling blissfully and helping you fill the page with haphazard blotches of color.

Sometimes I feel like that's what life with God is like, only I'm the four year old. He puts us in this world and says, "Be creative! Color it in with Me." And we end up scribbling every where and going hopelessly out of the lines. But He doesn't mind. He smiles with real joy at the work we've done and says, "Good job! It's looking beautiful. What should we do over here?" He looks with the tender eyes of a Father that delights to create with us. He's not deterred by the mistakes we've made and even works them to fit in with the rest of the picture in the end. They don't throw Him off course.

As we continue to create with Him, we learn to follow His lead and remain inside the lines to produce a more detailed picture. I am amazed though, that regardless of how much I learn or don't learn, God still displays my life like a father putting his child's picture on the refrigerator, as if to say, "Look at what my daughter has done!" He doesn't see scribbles, He sees a heart desiring to make something with Him, partnering with Him despite shortcomings and willing to let Him make up the difference where lacking. He works everything together for our good. Those purple skies and blue grass? He'll even turn them into a sunset over the water, as if that's how the image was originally meant to appear.