Have You Lost Your Edges?

Have you ever watched a toddler color? They open a fresh page in a coloring book, see the lines that form a picture, and begin to scribble. There is no awareness of actually coloring in the lines, the edges seem to be blurred to them. Apparently the objective is to put as much color in one spot as fast as they can and then find the next blank page. Even when the parent points out with excitement the picture within the lines, they just don’t see it.

I remember those creative times with my son when he was this age. We had stacks of coloring books with all of his favorite things waiting for him to discover. He would be so excited as I set everything up for him to color. He loved his crayons AND washable markers. Most of which were broken or had the caps chewed on, but he loved having all of them right where he could reach them. We would flip through the pages of already scribbled on pages to find an uncolored spot. Then before I could point out that it was one of his favorite Thomas the Tank Engine trains pictures, he was covering the remaining colorless page with a plethora of color! My loving prompting suggesting that he, “stay in the lines” so he could see his picture was answered with, “No mama, I do it!”

We had many pictures of blobs of color put up on the refrigerator, only to be replaced each time another page was swiftly engulfed with crayon or marker. He just couldn’t see the picture. He wasn’t able to see the edges that were there for him to color in to discover it.

We’ve all been here with a kid, or we were that kid, at least once. It’s understandable, toddlers haven’t learned the skills yet to master the art of coloring in the lines. It is a skill, and it takes time. When we are young time seems to be expendable. What does it matter if we can’t really see the picture. We’re on to the next one even before the last one is dry.

It’s only as we get older do we understand that there is a picture there waiting for us to add color to. That the lines are the edges that bring clarity to the drawing. Once the color is added it brings it to life.

We see the fruit of our labor. The finished picture now has meaning. It has graduated from the refrigerator to a frame that is placed with pride for all to see our finished work.

Over time, that picture begins to fade. Where there once were edges, its no longer as clear. Colors have faded into each other, the picture isn’t as vivid.

As we grow into adulthood we can loose the ability to see the lines altogether. They have faded out past those safe edges that made everything clear. We begin flipping through the pages of life trying to find that picture that made us feel known. The one worthy of everyone seeing, framed and secure.

Isn’t this just like our journey. We start out as a toddler unaware that there is actually something unique right in front of us to discover. We color and move on. As a teenager and young adult we are aware that there is something there, and we know if we take the time to add the color within the lines it becomes a beautiful picture. We feel a sense of pride, and begin to think we can see who we are within the beauty.

Then adulthood sets in. We get married, get a job, maybe start a family, buy a house, begin to pay never ending bills, leave a job for a career…

We morph from one thing to another.

The picture that had once been so clear seems blurred.

We’ve lost the definitive edges that gave us the sight to see who we are at the core.

But all is not lost!

You see, they’ve always been there. The edges that define us and remind us who we are. When we were so small we couldn’t see the boundary mark that said, you’ve gone to far, stay within the lines.”

It’s there within the lines that we see what the edges have formed. It’s clear. The invitation to know and to be known. That the One who created you, is the One who has invited you to stay within those edges. Within the security of who He says you are. They are put in place to hold you together so you don’t fade away and loose sight of who you were created to be.

It’s in our moment of clarity that we trust our identity is found there.

There within the lines.

Staying within the lines we come right up to the edges, but we know that the picture will only be made perfect, the way it was intended, if we stay within them.

Now, we stop being, “who we were” and start becoming “who we were created to be.”

No blurred lines.

We are chosen

beloved

AND known.

Jesus who gave His life for us said we are one in Him. Found within the boundaries of His everlasting love.

Even if time fades the color, if the lines seem blurred, He is calling you back. His edges are never faded. They are the constant reminder that He has always been and will always be there for you and me.

Everything we are is within Him. The One who has drawn them for us to be found in.