Yesterday’s “Trash Talk” ⤵️
{If you don’t know what that is, I often look for trash on the ground – 1.) to pick it up and leave someplace better than I found it and 2.) okay this is my primary “selfish” objective- because I’ve found God gives some really great reminders to me through e.v.e.r.y.t.h.i.n.g- even trash.}
So here was yesterday’s reminder- as I walked up on three smashed crayons in a parking lot, probably dropped by a kid in a hurry. Or maybe dropped in a moment of frustration by a mom whose toddler was having a fit getting in their car seat. (Not gonna lie, I’ve been there before. Like very recently.)
BUT…
Broken
Crayons 🖍
Still
Color!
That’s what He reminded me with these three smashed restaurant crayons.
We are all a little broken aren’t we?
And I don’t know about you, but my wanna-be-perfectionist self often used to discard old crayons for a fresh box.
The beginning of every school year was out with the old and in with the new!
Yet I think He is wanting to change my perspective A LOT this season.
I am that broken crayon:
I have been smashed.
“…pressed on every side by troubles,
but …not crushed.
…perplexed, but not driven to despair.
… hunted down, but never abandoned by God. …knocked down, but … not destroyed.”
- 2 Corinthians 4:8-9 NLT
Unlabeled. (My old fancy titles are gone.)
I am now “just” a mom.
“Just” a wife.
“Just” a daughter of God.
But that’s enough.
Actually it’s not “JUST”-
it’s not fair at all,
I don’t deserve these amazing roles…
the opportunity to be a mom, wife,
or daughter of the King.
Pure gifts- that’s what these roles are that I get to “color”.
Sometimes the enemy tells me that I’m not good enough.
Sometimes he tries to make me stare extra hard at my brokenness, my imperfections…
Sometimes he has tried to tell me that my husband would be better off with a “fresh crayon”— a better wife than myself.
Or that my kids would be better off with a more perfect mom. One with fancier labels intact. Team mom. Crafty mom. Obsessed-with-the-role-of-mom mom.
And “all” I am is a very imperfect mom who loves them, loves their dad, and obsessively loves the God who created us – and even though He is God of the universe— chooses to do life with us. ❤️
But- that’s all He wants of us, mommas.
That’s enough.
He doesn’t care about any labels.
He doesn’t care if we look fresh or used up.
He made us to color His messages of love into this dark and drabby and love-hungry world, not to stay pristine and “safe”
in our own little boxes!
He reminded me of that today.
How he sees us – even in our brokenness-
Especially in a bold brokenness…
that refuses to give up,
refuses to believe the lies
that we are just done,
A bold brokenness that sees ourselves the way He does-
Not trash, but treasure.
Broken pieces = character
The smaller we become = more used up for Him,
The more we’ve given of ourselves = the more beauty we’ve created to leave behind, pointing the way for others toward our forever Home.
And one day in heaven,
we will all be new again.
Everything broken, everything bent-
Everything once tossed aside-
collected by Him
{if we have allowed ourselves to be picked up by His loving hands}
and FOREVER, perfectly restored. ❤️
Whenever our souls feel weary
or “on the floor”-
it’s simply that they’re attesting to this, reminding us…
though we live on this imperfect planet
right now,
we were MADE for heaven’s “more.”
From Full 