Did you ever have one of those fancy boxes of crayons as a kid? Maybe as an adult? :) I loved crayons when I was a child. At some point in my childhood a family member gave to me and my sister who is close in age, a very large set of crayons that had every imaginable color, and then every color that would occur if every imaginable color made love to the other imaginable colors and created a bastard crayon child. Me and my sister both used and abused the crayons, coloring just about everything in site. This set of crayons met their unfortunate demise on the nylon backseat of a 1980's Chevy Impala on a hot Texas day. Who knew that the boiling point for crayon material sits somewhere around 98 degrees fahrenheit?
Did you ever have a white crayon in a crayon box set? I never really understood the white crayon. It frustrated me. It stands to reason that just about every coloring book in the great library of coloring book literature has white pages, or off-white, or dark-white. White. So in what case would I want to use my white crayon? I guess if I had more artistic ability as a 4 year old I may have seen the opportunity to use it as a highlight on a blue sky to compliment a scene with some fluffy clouds. Maybe a cat could have had a more interesting furry coat of cat hair. But mostly I just used the white crayon to attempt to color people who were, well...white. They just never looked right though. The white of the crayon didn't seem to match my whiteness as a white guy. Some of you out there may be a closer match to the crayon.
As I was driving out of my driveway this morning I noticed how white it is here in central Kentucky. We have had snow for about three straight days now, and we haven't had a daily temperature above 30 degrees in at least a week. In short, we have a good stack of snow on the ground. I like snow a lot. Most people don't seem to like it much. I guess because it is inconvenient. But it seems to me that the most beautiful places in God's great creation are also inconvenient. Most of the lovely places I have seen in God's world have required a hike, or a climb, or a drive. They usually aren't found right in front of my doorstep. Well snow is a little inconvenient I suppose. Although me and Nacho (the name christened to my beautiful and glorious four wheel drive truck) seem to do pretty well with it. But I like the way that snow sort of outlines everything in the world. The steps leading up to the front door of one of the nearby Victorian style houses is a bit more interesting because it is outlined with white. The tree branches could all be counted in the dim morning light because they are also highlighted by the thin line of snow that has been carefully drawn along its edge. The bushes and shrubs display a more creative artistic approach, as they are gently sprinkled with patches of white, like the frosting on one of those 6-per package sugar donuts that you get in a moment of weakness on an early morning road trip, or at least the spots that such donuts leave on your jeans during the drive.
I have written too long of a blog in order to convey this one simple point, God is a lot better at using the white crayon than I ever was. It always seemed so empty and meaningless to me. It was the crayon in the box that never seemed as worn down as the reds and blues. Around here God seems to save the white crayon for special occasions with us as well. We only see a good snowfall about three times per-year. But I enjoy the white crayon in God's hands. I will gladly be inconvenienced today in order to let Him continue his wonderful work of art.
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