Are you a Harold trying to draw life with your purple crayon? In the children's book "Harold and the Purple Crayon", this little boy gets into one scrape after another. And what does he do? Cry to momma for help? Sit down and think about it? Pray? No, he draws himself out of his troubles. He encounters a dragon, but draws himself out of the fear. He is independent, a problem solver, fearless, triumphant. All he needs is his purple crayon and he's good!
As I browsed through this little book, Harold's self-reliance jumped out at me in bold purple images. He is in control! Aren't we like that? We want to be in control. And even if we can't control the circumstances, we can control the outcome....at least we think we can. And then something comes along that reminds us we are not in control. 9-11, a heart cath, an accident, Irene (the hurricane), a loved one's death. We are not in control and we know it deep in our heart of hearts. But we want to be a Harold with our purple crayon, drawing our way out of trouble.
Recently our adult Sunday school class at church has studied the book of Daniel. Bud did a wrap-up lesson last Sunday teaching us that the theme of Daniel is that God is in control and Daniel KNEW it. Despite all the trials of Daniel's life in Babylon, he didn't pull out his purple crayon and draw his own release from captivity, his rescue from the lion's den, his dream-come-true of Jerusalem being rebuilt. He trusted God. Period! Yes, he prayed as was his custom since he was young but he trusted God to pull out the "purple crayon" when He saw best.
So put that purple crayon away. Break it, melt it, pitch it. And trust in an eternal, loving God Who is in control!
