“We could learn a lot from crayons: some are sharp, some are pretty, some are dull, some have weird names, and all are different, but they all have to learn to live in the same box.”
(Author unknown)

As a former first grade teacher, I’ve had many children rush to me proudly showing their new box of crayons, some with 16, 32 or 64 in number. The children thought that their new crayons would always stay that perfect! Of course, by the end of a week many of those beautiful new crayons were either broken in half, had a broken tip or were just missing. We had a “lost and found” crayon bucket in our classroom, but nothing in it was perfect anymore. In the bucket, the children
deposited several imperfect crayons that had been found in a variety of places: under a bookshelf, across the room, in the trash can rescued by the custodian, in a game box and even stuffed in the back of their desk or someone else’s desk (This is a topic for another time).

Kids rooted through that bucket with full anticipation of finding that perfect crayon to make their box complete again. But this never happened. Their box was now imperfect, never to look the same again. Of course, there was always some child who had purchased the identical box of crayons and would share them with a friend with the rule that it be returned in the same condition. We call that teamwork or showing kindness to one another. Now their crayons were all imperfect but remained the same color. Does our “box of crayons” have to remain perfect? Can we accept that people or situations in our life may change, but still welcome them back in the once perfect “box?”

Ecclesiastics 4: 9-10 says that “two are better than one, because they have a good return for their work. If one falls down, his friend can help him up. But pity the man who falls and has no one to help him up.”

Prayer: God may we accept others in their imperfectness and team up and make a new beautiful creation. Help us to appreciate the changes in others and still consider them perfect in our eyes. Thank you God for loving us regardless of any changes, as we know that You walk daily before, beside and behind us while making us whole again.