THE Message Is In The Chalk

Looking for enCOURAGEment during rough times I turn to The Bible.  I found some much needed encouragement in Joshua 1:9 and decided to add it to our wall chalkboard in our entryway.

Have I not commanded you?
Be strong and courageous.
Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged,
for the Lord your God will be with you
wherever you go.
~Joshua 1:9

I had heard this verse before, and it was powerful writing God's words, and despite the fact that I had it memorized by the time the chalk hit the wall... the message didn't really hit me until the end.

Suddenly it was clear... THE message was in the chalk.  Not the chalk written on the wall... those words served for comfort and encouragement... the TRUE message I needed was in the actual piece (now pieces) of chalk that wrote the message.

To write these words I found a plethora of jumbo sized kids' sidewalk chalk and a tiny scrap of thin white chalk for the smaller letters.  The scrap ran out partway and I was briefly discouraged that I would have to use a jumbo piece to finish until I found it.  It... was a perfect, untouched, fresh new piece of thin white chalk.  The excitement of using a brand new piece of chalk may be a throwback to childhood, when we actually had real chalkboards in the classrooms, but something fired in me when I found that perfect piece.  I held it with pride and thought of how great my terrible handwriting would look with such an unblemished piece.  That is until I tried writing with it.  I struggled to write 'afraid' and 'discouraged' not because they were hard to bear with but because the chalk just wasn't working.  This piece of chalk that I thought was so great just wasn't doing its purpose.  I needed to share this message (God's word) and this unblemished piece of chalk was doing a poor job.

An outside force (read as curious 4.5yr old hands) soon swept through and accidentally shattered the chalk.  After briefly mourning the loss of the perfect unbroken chalk, I decided to pick up the scraps and finish the verse.  I didn't think much about how the chalk now worked perfectly and simply continued to finish the verse.

It wasn't until I lifted the chalk from the wall that I realized the message I needed to learn was in that actual piece (now pieces) of chalk.  We may think we have it all together and are doing just fine.  Our chalk may seem well put together and perfect.  But God (the master artist, author, and creator) might not be able to use us properly until we are broken.  In our brokenness we find meaning, we find beauty, and we (hopefully) can help write His message on the wall for others to see and hear.

His message is in my brokenness... His message is in the chalk.