When I was in the first grade, we learned to draw and stay in the lines.
My parents gave me a box of ten crayons. My ten crayons were big and fat and hard to keep in the lines. My friend Ricky that sat right in front of me had a big box of 64 Crayola Crayons. He had 8 times the selection I had for colors. His crayons were skinny and if they dulled he could sharpen them.
As we drew there was a weekly prize for the best, he always beat me! Being a competitor and week in and week out, I LOST!
One day, I asked him to borrow his flesh color for people, he said; "NO"! I knew there was a sharpener right in his box. I learned to rotate mine as I drew to keep the point sharp.
I thought, "This is not fair, he can beat me, I don’t have a chance".
One day, I decided I was going to get good enough that I would win.
I started learning how to get different shades out of one color. I practice hard to keep my coloring in the lines. WOW....I got better and better. I learned how to softly mix two colors and make a different color.
I started winning some of the weekly contests, not all but at least some of them. Ricky could still beat me on some, but I made a choice: not to complain and focus on the ten fat Crayons I had or the 64 skinny crayons he had.
Take note, I learned at an early age that life is not fair or things may not line up the way I want them to. My parents taught me to do the best with what you have and God will help you.
Now Ricky, from a young age was driven, competitive and doubled whatever was given to him. It wasn't that he was rich, he achieved more by making do with what he had. The point here, you have enough crayons to add colorful meaning to your life. To splash on the pages of your life with joy. To bring brightness of God's Word to discouraging moments. Do the best with what you have, learn to reduce the noise of negative thinking and God will help you with more crayons as you progress along.
Matthew 25:14-18 (NASB) says; “For it is just like a man about to go on a journey, who called his own slaves and entrusted his possessions to them. To one he gave five talents, to another, two, and to another, one, each according to his own ability; and he went on his journey. Immediately the one who had received the five talents went and traded with them, and gained five more talents. In the same manner the one who had received the two talents gained two more. But he who received the one talent went away, and dug a hole in the ground and hid his master’s money".
2020 'INTENTIONAL'
"Think Different, Before Complaining"