I was reading a book to my kids and it was full of sketches, some colored and some not. Teddy my kindergartner stopped me and said, “Mom can I color the pictures?” “Of course Teddy.” “But mom what if I color outside the lines?”
What I heard in his voice was fear. His desire to make the pictures beautiful but the fear of whether what he had to offer was enough.
I think a lot of us feel this way.
A friend of mine said she is developing a pattern of asking herself, “What would I do if I was not afraid?”
Standing on the side of the soccer field, “What would I do if I was not afraid?” Sitting at that meeting at work, “What would I do if I was not afraid?” Sitting in your car at pickup, “What would I do if I was not afraid?” Sitting across the table from your husband at dinner, “What would I do if I was not afraid?”
What would you say? What question might you ask? Who would you talk to?
What would you do if you were not afraid?
What sort of presence would you carry about you if you were not afraid of rejection? What fun might you be able to embrace? How might God be able to use your life?
My response to Teddy was, “I love what you color no matter what.” Let me whisper to you- God’s response to you is the same. “You are mine. I love you no matter what.”
What would you do if you were not afraid?
Would you try to journal and talk to God again if you weren’t afraid that you wouldn’t be able to sustain it? Would you ask your husband to come to church with you if you weren’t afraid he would get upset? Would you talk about the big important things with your kids if you weren’t afraid that they would dismiss you?
What would you do if you were not afraid?
Let’s color. Let’s be brave enough to say hello, to let someone into how we are actually doing, to tell the truth.
Let’s color because God has got this and He has got you.
What would you do if you were not afraid?
Pick up the pen. Let’s live these lives we were given. Let’s color and live free because, my friend, carried in the precious hands of God, we are fully protected and provided for, there is nothing to fear. We are free.
…and if you don’t feel that way, ask God, ask Him every day. God teach me that I am free.
Because in His hands, you are free.
HLLF,
