The Orange Crayon

For the past two weeks, I have lost some of the affection of my #1 fan. Let's just refer to him as Jule to give him some anonymity. You will never guess what has come to replace me...the woman who gave birth to him...an animal puzzle and an orange crayon. Seriously, the animal puzzle is even missing the giraffe; and the orange crayon is, after all, well...a crayon! When I pick Jule up from daycare, he has always run to me shouting my name and jumped happily into my arms, content to leave whatever he had been doing. But last week, he started throwing himself down, clutching the all-important puzzle, and screaming when I picked him up. He also screamed when I picked him up and tried to loosen the orange crayon that he had been coloring with from his grasp. I know it sounds stupid, but it really hurt my feelings. How could something be more important to him than me...the one who feeds and clothes him, the one who cares for him when he is sick, the one who still loves him after nearly 2.5 years of screaming!

But isn't that what I do? It may not be an orange crayon, but I let so many things become more important to me than my Father. I greedily clutch my desires in my hands, and I don't want to let them go even to spend some time with the One Who loves me more than anyone else ever could. I would rather watch TV than have some quiet time with Him. I would rather do what I want than to follow where He is leading. I'm so guilty of that, and I wonder how that leaves Him feeling. I don't want Him to be unimportant in my life...I want him to be #1 in my life. And actually, I don't want to be #1 in Jule's life. I want God to have that spot when Jule is old enough to understand.

I think I will have to be ok with being 2nd place to a crayon, but I want it to remind me to keep God 1st, both in my heart and in my actions.