Every year when the stores put out school supplies, I have a strong irresistible urge to buy new crayons.
When I started school each year, my new crayons, a Big Chief tablet, and new wooden pencils made me so proud. I worked hard to keep my crayons new. I hated it when they got worn down enough that I had to tear the paper to continue using them. By the end of the year, my crayons were down to “nubbins,” as mama used to say, just stubs.
Then when summer was over and it was time for school to begin again, I would get a new set of crayons. When we were in grade school, we bought our school supplies at the corner grocery store, but when we were in junior high, I remember visiting Ashby’s bookstore.
I learned to color inside the lines, then to blend the colors together to make new colors. I learned how to use a darker color on one side, representing the shadow. When I was in eighth grade, I took art class, but I was never very good at it. I learned just enough that they should have called it “art appreciation” class.
My crayons, my children’s crayons, my grandson’s crayons. Now I am the one using crayons again. A new beginning, a chance to start over, to make the picture perfect and pretty. I don’t take much time to color now, but I have that unopened box of 75 crayons and coloring books ready and waiting for when the urge strikes me.
Lamentations 3:27-28, “Through the Lord’s mercies we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning; great is Your faithfulness.”
The seasons of our lives change. Just as autumn follows summer and school begins again for another year, we can look forward to another day, another month, another season, another year of the mercy of the Lord.
The Lord’s seasons may change but He never will, because He is faithful.