Paint By Number

Last night, after her first watercolor class, my youngest child started her assignment of painting a picture with complimentary colors. “Mama, what would you paint with purple and yellow?” It was difficult for me to “see” what could be created from two colors. Bedtime came and no purple or yellow had been brushed on her canvas. Wasn’t it just yesterday she was painting by number? And didn’t the guide state exactly which color belonged in which block to result in the puppy, flower or sailboat?

Sometimes, I want my adult life to be like a paint by number: 1=home, 2=family, 3=security, 4=health, 5=time, 6=energy, 7=dreams, etc. Life is not neatly compartmentalized into sweet little groups. The reality of life some days seems to deflate time, deplete energy and divert dreams from the serene Mary Cassatt scenes that paper my mind. The Lord gently reminds that we’ve graduated from the paint by number (limited cookie cutter outcomes) to the canvas of Eternal Life. When we said “yes” to the sweet Savior who bid us come, we entered the limitless realm of the “How Much More” God (Heb 9:14) who is not limited by numbers or blocks. His Word speaks “…Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord of Hosts.”(Zech. 4:6)

My mind drifted back to the might and power expressed trying to even think of a suggestion for the complimentary painting, and His Spirit prompted that there is one more color to factor in – the white of the canvas! There are three colors to work with! And dear fellow saints, we too, have the threesome of Divinity- Father, Spirit, Jesus – as we paint the beautiful canvas of life without numbers. He is calling us to so much more than we have ever seen, heard or imagined (I Cor. 2:9) And He is with us! Praise His Name!

Dear Lord,
Wake me from my perpetual slumber
I’m approaching life like a paint by number
Lord, help me to see how much more
Your eternal canvas holds in store! Amen.