More colorful lessons

So, I saw a post on a friend's wall and it got me to thinking about color... again.

I love crayons.  I love to open a brand new box of crayons.   The smell is unlike any other.  The feel of a new crayon in my hand is smooth and exciting.  The sight of a newly cracked open box of crayons is exhilarating.  The potential that new box holds is endless and vibrant.  To place a brand new crayon to paper and begin the creative process is, well... it's fun!  Knowing that the grayish newsprint is merely a guide, a suggestion makes coloring a picture more than a busy task for a child.  It reminds me that I am free to see the page that I am coloring any way that I choose. I love crayons so much that I usually have my own box so that I don't have to share the tools of my trade with my kids. 

And I was thinking about how much that box of crayons represents the body of Christ.  Yep crayons and Jesus, I am not kidding!  When was the last time you walked into a church and just looked at the people inside? It is exciting!  You should try it!  The next time you walk into a church, look at who is inside.  The potential in endless.  God placed an amazing collection of people in our local bodies... the mix is endless and vibrant!  

Just as each Crayola box never has two crayons of the same hue nor does God place two people to in the same body who ever need to compete with each other.  Our gifts don't ever overlap exactly with another.  Just like "Macaroni & Cheese" and "Peach" are similar, they are not the same and cannot do what the other does.  There may be more than one teacher in a church but that doesn't mean that they are called to teach the same group in the same way with the same tools.  God has created us differently for a reason.

My favorite box of crayons is the 120 box!  Think about it!  The pictures that I could create are nearly endless. I don't want to color with the Big Box of 8.  It's not much fun.  I think that God must feel the same way when He looks into our churches and sees the diversity of gifts with in each body.  It must be so much more fun for Him when we allow each other to grow and develop as He intended.  How boring and basic if He only has an option of 8 to work with.  

But if we give God the freedom of using all of us, all of those who think that their gifts are not important, that their color is no fun, He could create a masterpiece.  Every color is necessary.  Every crayon will be used.  But we can't hide in the back of the box and we can't try to make a box of 120 conform to be a box of 8.  He has the ability to join each of us, to blend us and to use us to make a beautiful picture of His love for this plain, newsprint world.   

Can you image the pictures He could color with you.... if you allow him? 
   

Lessons from the color yellow

Love passionately.  Live vibrantly.  Laugh with abandon.

If I were to put together a 3 point sermon these would be my points, but I am not.  I have been sitting, praying and reflecting on my friends who faithfully wear the yellow shirts that are the hallmark of Whitehall Summer Ministry Team.  I cannot tell you why but so many of these young people have allow me to have access to their lives and I am the better for it. These young people love Jesus and follow the leading of the Holy Spirit even in the most difficult situations.  They are quick to forgive and eager to lavish affection on those they love and even those they don't yet know.

This year the color yellow for me became the personification of the Body of Christ as God intended it to be.  They don't always get it right.  They are people and young at that, but they listen patiently and allow the Word of God to shape them.  I am blessed beyond measure to be loved by them.

I have laughed until my sides have ached with cramps.  I have lived in their midst and seen their hearts for God and for each other.  I have loved them like my own.  I am confident that the time we have spent building the foundations of relationships this summer is merely the beginning of lifelong friendships.  The weeks we have spent walking around this world together this summer have left footprints on my heart and changed the landscape of my life.... forever.

But isn't that exactly what God expects from our lives and relationships?  Jesus walked the countryside for three years with his friends.... loving, living and laughing. And when it was over, He had left indelible marks on the land, and on the hearts and minds of his friends, so much so that they soon began a movement that changed the world, FOREVER.

Never take for granted the people that God has ordained to cross your paths.  Each and every person who comes into your life is a child of God, created in HIS image.  They each are special, and unique in a way that cannot ever be duplicated by another.  Treat each as a gift and treasure those who God ordains to be in your life.  He has sent them to you for your benefit!

We are the ones who are blessed when we love passionately, live vibrantly, laugh with abandon with those who God introduces to us.  I will never again look at the color yellow without feeling the rush of passionate living I have felt this summer. And thanks to this techo-age we live in we are never further than the "enter" button away form each other! I am blessed to have had this summer to begin a lifetime of friendships with this amazing group of people.

Thank you Jesus for blessing us with a community of sisters and brothers who love and support us regardless of time or space.  Thank you for giving us a glimpse of heaven and a reflection of the  love you have for us in the people you place in our lives. May you abundantly bless those who are willing to be transparent and love others unreservedly as you have loved us.

~in HIS Service, Ch