A Matter of Faith...

By Carol Round

When Your Crayon Breaks

“He restores my soul. He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake.”
Psalm 23:3 (NIV)

This time of year, I love walking through a department store’s school supplies section. When the shelves are fully stocked, I find myself wandering down the aisle, wishing I were going back to school. For 43 years, I did—if you count my 30 years of teaching.

I associate a school year with newness, an opportunity to start fresh. There’s nothing like opening a new box of crayons. So many different colors from which to choose, even more today than when I was a child. The paper wrapped around each slim cylinder sports names like periwinkle, burnt sienna, maize and thistle. I still favor the original colors: red, blue, yellow, green, brown, black, purple and orange.

For some unknown reason, young children like to peel the paper from the crayon stick. Recently, I observed my grandchildren as they sat quietly on the floor coloring in one of the many books I have purchased for them. My granddaughter, who is 19 months older than her brother, became upset when he started removing the wrapping from a yellow crayon.

“Stop it, Brennan,” she ordered in her best bossy big-sister voice.

Brennan just kept peeling away. After one more order from his sister to cease and desist, Brennan retaliated by snapping the crayon in two. His sister was not happy.

“Nana,” she yelled, “Brennan is breaking the crayons.”

She didn’t realize that I had been quietly observing the unfolding scene and was prepared to intervene. However, before I could respond, Brennan said, “I’m sorry, Hi-Anne.”

His two-year-old vocabulary, while very sophisticated for his age, cannot quite enunciate the syllables needed to pronounce “Cheyenne.” I watched as Brennan tried to restore the crayon to its original glory. He pushed the two pieces of yellow together, determined to make them whole again. Frustrated, he kept pushing until another piece broke off. He finally realized that it was beyond his capability to fix the crayon. Looking up at me, he said, “Nana can fix it.”

While I explained to my grandson that I could not restore the yellow crayon to wholeness, it made me realize how often in life we make a mess of things and try to fix it on our own. No matter how determined we are to fix something that is broken, especially relationships, we cannot make them whole without help.

I know the ultimate healer of brokenness. He may not restore our crayons, but He can restore people. I remember a song from my youth. The words go something like this, “Only love can break a heart, only love can mend it again.”

When Jesus walked the earth, He spent time in healing and teaching. His motive? Love.

When we turn to the healer of broken hearts and broken lives, He can restore us. Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for He is with me. His rod and His staff bring comfort.


A collection of Carol Round’s most popular faith-based columns is now available in book form. For more information, readers can reach her at carolaround@yahoo.com