Hey stampers! I hope the title of this post drew you in! Today, I'm not posting about anything “crafty”, showing you any cool projects or products. I wanted to share another part of my life, one of which you might not be aware. First, let me share the photo that serves as the inspiration for this post.
Yep…one little stubby crayon and a knife-sharpened pencil drew me in. My friends are currently serving as missionaries with AboutFace Missions in Kenya. They, and their six children, sold everything they owned last year in November and boarded a LONG flight that would take them to their future home where they would begin their ministry to orphans in Kenya. To read more of their story here is one of Stephanie's blog posts:
https://bysfamily.com/2017/02/16/my-selfish-post/
When I saw this picture, something started rattling around in my mind. As a teacher, parent, and now grandparent, how many times had I told a child to throw away a stubby crayon or worn down pencil. I couldn't imagine a tiny hand using a stub and actually having legible penmanship.
But, as I started to think more about this I felt my heart stirring for these children who had no full-sized pencils or crayons and I wanted to do more than just shake my head or pray. A friend at work and I went and bought crayons and pencils and packed them up to ship off to Kenya. I'm hoping when our box arrives, the children will be excited.
That's all well and good, but now to the real point of this post. We all have what I'll call “stubby crayons” of life. You know, the experiences that bring us up short, curves in our life road that take us places we never thought we'd be, or ways that we've gotten the “short end of the stick”…or pencil as the case may be! 🙂
These things can actually be a blessing if we let them. Just like this picture shows, these kids used every last part of the crayon and pencil because that's all they had. The funny thing is…their little faces are full of such joy ; they don't even know they are missing new crayons and pencils.
Sometimes we just need to “be in the moment” and not think about what we are missing or what we don't have. Let God change and teach us through our” stubby crayons of life” moments.
Come back tomorrow and I'll have some new samples to share with you!
