Kindergarten, first grade, maybe even three years old. We are taught how to hold a crayon, color, and how to "stay in the lines" in our coloring books. However, have you ever noticed that little kids never color inside of the lines perfectly like adults try to teach? I know this is something random and completely off the wall, but hear me out.
From the time we are little until the time we are old, we are always being taught that anything "outside of the line" is not considered "perfect" either through actual coloring or life in general. Hand a small child some crayons and paper, you will end up with a sheet full of color that has no form of organization but to that child it is beautiful. To us, the "older" eye, it is a hot mess of a bunch of scribbles that are just running together. To the three year old, it is a horse, an elephant, a flower, anything they want it to be and we agree even though we cannot see what they do.
To have that imagination and be able to regain that innocent lifestyle is what this world needs a little bit more of. We need a little less of "coloring inside of the lines" and a lot more of coloring outside of them. We need to reach our colors onto other pages and not be so concerned with one single picture.
Since we are always teaching our children how to "color inside the lines" so they can create the perfect masterpiece, we are actually missing out on what our world currently is. No matter how much we may try to stay in the lines and keep our lives in tip top shape, it never really happens that way. Nothing is ever perfect so why do we try to teach our children it can be? If you think about it, when God looks at our world today, we are the blank sheet of paper with crazy lines. Our world is full of random dots, marks, dysfunctional circles, crooked squares and messed up patterns. 2016 is full of color, running in every direction, way outside of the lines but we have one problem.
Our pages are not connecting, our generation is not even close to "coloring in the lines" because we are so torn and broken as a nation and as a world that our masterpiece is being ripped apart.
So today, I ask that you "color outside of your line" and lend a hand to someone. I ask that you reach out to another person that you may have never met and tell them to have a good day. Ask your significant other what will help their day go smoother. Give your child an extra hug. And QUIT coloring inside of your daily line.
Our world needs a lot more love but we will not get there until we start "coloring outside the lines." Be the little kid that colors way out of the line to create a masterpiece because in reality we have to remember that we are ALL God's children and sometimes we need to think like children to see the world through a different light. We need to love more, live more and respect one another more. We need to decrease our violence and increase our love. We need to color outside of our lines and come together as individuals, as communities, as a nation.
