Last week I had the TV on for Addie while she was in her Jump-a-roo and I was getting ready. She was watching cartoons, sort of, and towards the end of the program I got her out of her jumpy and put her in her high chair for lunch. I left the TV on and it was on KBYU. It was one of those devotionals or something like that next, and I decided to leave it on, as I have to speak in church on Easter Sunday, and was hoping for some inspiration. The woman giving the talk gave a very thought provoking story that set the little wheels of my brain in motion.
Here goes, my paraphrased version of her story:
It was the end of summer and school was going to start soon for my little kindergartener. We had to go visit the teacher so she could take the kindergarten pre-test. We had studied all of the colors at home and she knew how to write her name.
After we sat down with the teacher, she asked my daughter to choose her favorite color of crayon and write her name with it. I knew she knew how to write her name, but my little girl just looked at the assorted crayons and froze. Her knees locked and she wouldn’t move.
The teacher prodded her again, “go ahead, honey, take your favorite color crayon and write your name.”
My daughter just sat there, paralyzed. Finally the teacher said, “That’s O.K., we’ll teach you how to write your name when you come to school in the fall.”
My daughter and I left and I could not figure out why she would not write her name, when I knew she knew how. When we got to the car I finally said to her “why didn’t you write your name for the teacher.”
She replied “I couldn’t. The teacher told me to choose my favorite color, and there wasn’t a pink crayon.”
***
I thought that was a really cute story. I especially related to the pink crayon. More importantly, the woman giving the talk related the story to life. Sometimes, we want something, but the option just isn’t there. She told of how her son wanted to be a professional basketball player more than anything. He would practice day and night and although he made the school teams, she feared he could never be a professional ball player because he was simply too short. She pointed out that while maybe being a professional basketball player just wasn’t in his crayon choices, it didn’t mean he couldn’t do great things with his life.
I have been thinking about this a lot since. It is not bad to dream big or dream of the impossible, and many times we can make those big dreams come true. But sometimes, whether because of our own choices, or circumstances beyond our control, life simply doesn’t offer us our first choice. Then what? (She pointed out…) Do we just freeze and do nothing? Do we not make progress simply because the option we first wanted isn’t there? Or do we choose another color? It will still write our name just as surely as the pink crayon would have. Maybe the picture we can create with the other colors on the table will be prettier because it has so much more variety, than it would have had if we had been allowed to use the pink crayon.
Sometimes I find myself looking back on my life with this analogy. There were things I wanted to do when I grew up. Many of them have happened, and some have not but still may happen, and some can never happen now. Am I upset and frozen? Absolutely not. I am grateful that God gave me better colors to choose from. Although I probably would have colored EVERYTHING pink had I had the option, he was wise to give me green, blue, yellow, orange, red and purple. I may sometimes get to use pink, but he doesn’t always allow my first choice, because my life can be so much more beautiful if I will open my eyes to the possibilities he has set before me.
I am grateful God looks out for us so much. He is pretty amazing when you think about how much he cares for us and knows us each individually. His crayon box is a lot more colorful and imaginative than ours ever could be.
-Just a side note…I really appreciate everyone’s comments, but I have to give credit where it is due. I saw this on KBYU and thought I would share it with you. Most of it is her story and I only paraphrased the talk. The last two paragraphs are where I personalized it for myself, but really, she is the insightful one. I am just glad that you all found comfort, and were uplifted by this post. Feel free to enjoy, but please understand that I didn’t come up with this on my own. I was just inspired by this story and thought I would share it for all. Have a good one!
