All I Wanted Was The Big Box Of Crayons

All I Wanted Was The Big Box Of Crayons
The View From Granny’s Back Porch
Written by Joy Mathis Chadwick

Christmas is behind us and the new year is bright and shiny – and oh how I’m wishing I could bundle up enough to sit on the back porch long enough for a big cup of coffee with y’all. But after all, it’s January, it’s freezing cold, and we’ll just have to sit by the fire and chat for a while.

While putting away the rest of the Christmas decorations that I overlooked the first time, I noticed some stray toys just underneath the bed in the guest bedroom where Benny The Amazing Wonder Boy sleeps. I really don’t have the heart to move them just yet; Covid has caused our visits to be few and far between and I’m just gonna treasure this moment for a little while longer. As I started straightening up his basket of toys, I couldn’t help but think that this child has more toys in this one basket than I probably had during my childhood. My goodness, how times have changed. I didn’t care much for toys as a child; I loved to read and color and play outside; on rainy days I liked to play with my doll. Let me tell you just a little bit about the one thing that I really, really wanted.

Like every other first grader on her first day of school, I had my box of jumbo crayons. I think there were six in the box. I remember how they smelled. I remember how they felt in my chubby little hand. I remember not wanting to use them because they wouldn’t look new any more. I remember feeling more proud than I ever had in my life. (Prior to starting school, the only memory I have of crayons are those broken ones with no paper wrapper that filled the cigar box in my Sunday School class. I cannot begin to tell you how excited I was to have my very own “colors”. This was considered a luxury then, long before I fully realized what being poor really meant.) Somehow my mom was able to not only get crayons; she also got me a “book satchel” and a brand new dress. I felt rich. And for the first time ever, I felt like every other kid.

I loved school; I loved everything about it. I loved having new friends; I loved my teachers. I even loved homework. I loved to read; it was a way to travel around the world and be whoever I wanted to be. I was so happy. But I soon became aware that there were not only boxes of 6 jumbo crayons, there were boxes of SIXTY-FOUR crayons and the box had a built-in sharpener. This became the desire of my heart.

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Well, well. Let’s not let that pitiful poor girl with limited “colors” stay there in grade school pining away for a box of 64 Crayola Crayons. Let’s brighten this up!

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That awkward kid grew up and was adopted into royalty. I am now a princess because my Father is The King! Do you think King’s kids sit around and do the ugly cry because they don’t have the 64 box of “colors”. Nah.

I don’t think God is by any stretch of the imagination someone who just doles out materialistic gifts just because something pops up on our wish list. But I have learned that God has given me everything that I NEED to get by in this life. My prayers haven’t always been answered quickly; sometimes my prayers are answered in ways that I never dreamed possible. And sometimes the answer is a big fat “NO”. But oh my goodness gracious! My Heavenly Father is a KING and I am His child, and He makes sure that I get nothing but the best! (Disclaimer: Our retirement home is a mobile home in the middle of a cow pasture and our newest vehicle is 10 years old and is frequently targeted by rogue deer; Stan’s rusty, paint chipped pickup truck sports antique tags. So don’t go thinking we are living “high on the hog”. However, we have never been happier in our lives, because our happiness does not depend on “things”, but on our relationship with Jesus Christ.) And you know what? I wouldn’t trade growing up as a poor kid for anything in the world; God was preparing me even then to be happy during the times of my life that I needed it most; you just really can’t appreciate what you’ve got until you’ve done without.

So . . . . . got a heartache? I know someone who can fix it. Need to turn your life around? I know someone who can do that for you. Feel like you’re got no one in the world to turn to? I know someone who is just waiting to be your best friend.

And He has PROMISED that He will give His children the desires of our heart If we delight in Him, but why in the world wouldn’t we want to delight in Him??? ‘Cause He surely does delight in us!

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Yes, I eventually got the big box of Crayola Crayons, but not until I was an adult. (And 64 is no longer the maximum – now it’s 96!) They sit on my desk right now as a reminder of simpler times with way less complicated problems. No need to have a hissy fit over a box of “colors”, right?

“Delight yourself in the Lord and He will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4