Stop Signs & Coloring Books



Courtesy of Dustin Kramer

 I am convinced that those who speed through stop signs even though every one at the intersection knows it is your turn to go did not learn anything in kindergarten. They were probably the child who grabbed at every cool toy or new school supply and refused to share. And so, most of the time that is why I end up sitting at a stop sign for five or so minutes waiting to pull out of the parking lot. Apparently the local school district has some stepping up to do. Everyone should take turns...you stop at the stop sign, you wait for any others whose opportunity may be before yours, look both ways and then you go. It’s black or white, yay or nay. Life could be so simple if we just let it be. On that note, I guess it all comes down to how you look at life. Kindergarten seems to be where most of us are molded into who we are to become. Take for example the common “did you color inside or outside the lines?” theory. Most people pride themselves on saying they colored outside the lines and rules were made to be broken! But I say, not that it’s worth much, that the lines were set there for a purpose. How can you enjoy the finished product if you have not followed what was set before you? To color all over is to mess up the picture. Nothing is defined, it’s just…a mess. To color inside the lines is to understand the picture and to be able to fully enjoy what was started. It’s that simple. It’s black or white.

Our walk with God could be just as black or white. And I do believe that God designed it to be so. “Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths.” That is found in Proverbs 3:5-6, and it really is as simple as it sounds. Just trust in Him with everything, don’t always do what you want or what you think is best but instead talk to Him about, bring it before Him and let His will be done and He will direct you. Again, it’s black or white. So why is it that we struggle with it? It should be simple, it seems to be but often times trusting in God and acknowledging Him in everything becomes too difficult. Why is that?

Because we are too impatient to wait at the stop sign. We don’t give God His turn and just rush ahead hoping we can beat Him out before He puts His foot on the gas. We are too caught up in where we think we need to go and what we have to do that we end up flying past something that is supposed to make us stop and seek Him. Running spiritual stop signs is just as heedless as coloring outside the spiritual lines. God has a plan for us and it is set out like an uncolored picture in a coloring book. We have the freedom of choice to color inside the lines or outside. When we do want we want to do and crazily, like an impatient five year old “color” our life we end up losing sight of the picture and turn our life into a mess. It becomes a crayola disaster that cannot be understood because the real picture is hidden beneath all of our impatience and attempts of doing it our way. If we trust in God and color inside the lines of His plan then we will be able to see a beautiful picture unfold. Like in a coloring book the picture or our life may be obvious as to what it could be, but it cannot really become what God has envisioned until we live our life according to His plan. Then the colors of His might and mercy can come through and the plain picture can become a beautiful testimony of God’s love.

It’s simple…we must stop at our spiritual stop signs and color inside the spiritual lines. When we can accomplish that then God’s plan can really unfold and He can mold us into what we need to be. And all of the things that God has for us can take place and He can use us the way He wants and desires too.


“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
Romans 8:28