Mystery.Heart.Hope

Psalm 34:18 The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The delicious scent of crayons fills me with hope.  In my elementary years, I owned a large coffee can filled with broken crayons. The tin held every color you could imagine, some with the paper intact, some free of wrap. Instead of tossing the colorful sticks when they crumbled under pressure, mom gave me a can to store them. I loved digging through the pile of color to find just the right one for whatever I was drawing. And the smell—an aroma that signified the beginning of a beautiful creation. I scribbled with them until they smashed down to a nub. I recycled some of the tiny pieces, melted with wax, into candles. That glorious can of broken crayons gave me hours of joy. I may not be a crayon, put to the test by little fingers coloring vigorously and snapped in two, but I relate because I'm a broken person. We all are in some way. It's difficult to live in this world with all the v...