Colored Pencils
For with you is the fountain of life;
in your light we see light.
Psalm 36:9 NIV
Our youngest left for his first year of college last weekend.
The house is so quiet.
As we were getting him ready to go, we cleaned out the built-in desk in our kitchen; it’s been his place of study since 8th grade. The drawers were overflowing (had we never cleaned these out???) with pencils and glue sticks and notecards and highlighters.
And then there was a gallon ziplock, crammed full of colored pencils.
This colored pencil bag has grown since our oldest was in elementary school - the last 18 years. It is quite a collection - kid’s Crayolas to artist-grade Prismacolors.
Some were barely used while others had been sharpened to little nubs. From coloring books to math graphs to anatomy/physiology diagrams, these colored pencils were USED.
As I tossed the bag into a box marked “giveaway”, I thought about the last 18 years.
Those colored pencils brought back many memories: cobalt turquoise moments when our family grew in number, lemon yellow moments when we celebrated birthdays, gotcha days and holidays, red-violet moments when we faced great difficulties, sky blue moments when issues were resolved.
God has been part of every colorful moment of our lives. He’s walked with us through every challenge and He’s rejoiced with us in every blessing.
But now my time with that particular bag of colored pencils has come to an end. I’m opening a brand new set that looks very different, but no less brilliant.
I know that I will still have colorful moments in this new season - a mixture of turquoise, yellow, crimson, and blue.
How about you? Is there a new season in your life?
If so, remember with me all of the good things the Lord has given you in this past season and how He faithfully walked with you through each challenge.
But don’t be afraid to open a new box of pencils; He knows how to make this season bloom with every tint of the rainbow.
Trust the Lord in all seasons: He will be there coloring the new parts of life with every shade in His infinite palette of love.
“His purpose was for the nations to seek after God and perhaps feel their way toward him and find him—
though he is not far from any one of us. For in him we live and move and exist.”
Acts 17:27-28 NLT
Today is a GOOD day,
Natalie