God Picked the Crayon
A coloring book story.
The choice of crayon colors is vast. Sky blue, aqua blue, navy blue…which blue do I choose? True green, lime green, yellow green, and green yellow. Yellow with green added and green with yellow added? I’m not a crayon connoisseur.
I’m not an artist by any stretch of the imagination. My stick figures don’t even look right. The art of coloring gives un-artsy people a way to add individual flare to a picture an artist has beautifully drawn. Our coloring style.
Me and my daughter, Megan, are fond of coloring. A fondness starting when we were both little girls. We colored together during her younger years, teen and college days, and we love coloring today.
As she grew older, Megan became protective of her coloring hobby. When children were visiting our home, Megan had a separate stack of coloring books and crayons the kids were allowed to use. Not her good ones. She didn’t want any of her artwork destroyed and there was the dreaded, “Uh oh, the crayon broke.”
August 28, 2014 at 8:01 am | Uncategorized
Prime Time by the Shoreline
By Karen Friday
Sometimes I’m too emotionally exhausted to put on my armor—much less fight the battle. The battle belongs to the Lord. It’s not my battle.
In Exodus 14, we read about a battle. The people of Israel are being led by Moses out of slavery in Egypt. A place of physical and emotional bondage. “Exodus” in the Greek is “a going out.” Traveling through the wilderness, the Israelites discover the Egyptian ruler, Pharaoh, and his army are in pursuit of them. It’s a battle they are too exhausted to fight.
“And they said to Moses,…are no graves in Egypt that you have taken us away to die in the wilderness? Why have you treated us this way and brought us out of Egypt?…it would have been better for us to serve the Egyptians than to die in the wilderness.” Exodus 14:11-12
“It would have been better” attitude usually comes on the heels of the enemies pursuit—when we are up against unbelievable barriers—with no foreseeable way to escape or win the battle.
August 21, 2014 at 8:31 am | Uncategorized
Honest to Goodness!
© 2014 by Karen Friday
Honestly, it’s hard to be honest about honesty!
Honesty is a hard commodity to find these days. Maybe that’s the problem, we are looking for a commodity—a product of sorts. Honesty is a character trait. Something we consumers can’t buy no matter what the price. People can be bought—but that isn’t honest—is it?
It seems honesty isn’t important anymore. In our world at large. In society. In the communities where we live, work, worship, and play.
Trying to find honesty as if something has been hidden from us—truth and sincerity. We are looking and calling, “Come out, come out wherever you are!” We look underneath—the dotted line. On top—to those in positions of leadership. Behind—the doors of opportunity and relationship. Honesty can only be found in—in people.
“Honest to God.” That’s the truth. Honesty is from the very character of God. It’s the only reason honesty can be found in us. The goodness of God, found in Christ, then imparted to us and in us.
August 14, 2014 at 11:34 am | Uncategorized
Fairy Tale Wishes
By Karen Friday
A princess. A handsome prince. A maiden lovely in form and beauty. A knight in shining armor. Fairy dust. A magical land—where wishes really do come true.
I’m a dreamer—dreaming that started long, long ago as a child—the dream of fairy tale wishes. Little girl wishes became big girl wishes.
A girl with insecurities magnifying the need for dream-wishing. In school. In social circles. In life. I wish I looked like her…I wish he would pick me…I wish I had that talent…I wish things were different…I wish…
A wish for the sprinkling of fairy dust—magically transforming me into the fairest in the land.
Once upon a time, in the land of fourth grade, a little girl made a wish. The wish for a magic wand to change her to princess status.
August 6, 2014 at 10:07 am | Uncategorized