Coloring Outside The Lines

Mazy’s got it down.

Anytime I give her something to color with, she immediately starts drawing in a circle. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to her circles, but then she glances up at me as if to say, “duh mom, it’s a puppy.”

I should have known. It was staring me in the face.

As I watch my sweet almost 2 1/2 year old draw as if she thinks she is the next blooming artist, I can’t help but look into her eyes, while trying to jump inside her head, desiring to be a part of her drawing process too. I desire to draw and color with the same persistence, enthusiasm, and confidence as a toddler.

I just wish I had the same confidence as she did – that my circles were puppies too.

I so often live life, wanting to do everything “just right.” But what IS the “just right” way of life? I let fear creep in, telling me that I could be doing more. I could be cooking more. I could be cleaning more. I could be exercising more. I could be looking like more. But that “just right” living does not allow us to color outside of the lines.

We strive for perfection, which in and of itself, is still trying to stay within the lines – of perfection.

Mazy is teaching me to color outside of the lines. To step away from what our world deems as “just right” and just live in the confidence of who GOD created me to be. Messy lines and all. I think God designed us to color outside the lines too. He has created each of us with uniqueness, yet we try to squelch His perfect design of us, by trying to stay within the lines of this world.

What if we stepped out? What if we started coloring the picture of our life outside of the lines? Oh what freedom that would give!

I am too into staying inside the lines. I know I need to step outside the lines of how the world says I should live and realize that following God’s will, may just mean I need to color outside of the lines too.