What's on YOUR Walls?

So, once again I find myself with a two year old in the house. I remember JRay as a two year old. The WHITE quilt I sleep with still bears the marks of his toddlerhood, from the time he got hold of some colored Sharpies. This is my grandmother's quilt, so I have been broken-hearted for years over him "ruining" it. Nate LOVES to draw. He's quite the little artist. Both of my boys seem to have inherited their Mommy's creativity. So, of course, along with this comes crayon art on my white walls. When JRay was a toddler, I freaked out and cleaned them off with the ever famous Magic Eraser. But with Nate, it hasn't bothered me so much. Obviously, life has a lot to do with that. I learned the first time that it does no good to rush to wash them off the walls immediately, because then that just creates a clean canvas for them to start over ;)

But, tonight, as I was doing my business in the bathroom (yep-TMI, I know, deal with it!), I noticed the bathtub crayons sitting there begging to be used. I was bored, didn't take a book with me, and my Blackberry did me no good because Facebook wasn't moving. I picked up the orange one and wrote my name on the rim of the bathtub. Cool. I actually sat there and admired my decent attempt at handwriting for a moment. then I looked at the boring white light switch cover and though "Hmmmmmm... I could totally spruce that up". So, I drew a sun in the corner. Then I added some grass, colored in a beautiful blue sky, smudged in some clouds, and drew 2 flowers over the light switches. Not gallery quality, but I'm proud enough of it to leave it there :)

That got me to thinking. Why do we have to have clean white walls? What's wrong with 2 year old masterpieces? I mean, white walls are boring! Why do we stress so much over a few crayon marks (or if you live in my house, crayon, marker, pencil, and who knows what else)on an otherwise very uninteresting wall? I think I would much prefer to look at my children's artwork than nothing! After all, this is their expression of how they see the world, is it not? By golly, it might not look like a kitty cat to me, but if he says it's a kitty cat, who am I to say it's not?

I think maybe this is how God looks at our hearts. Do we really think he cares if our hearts are white and boring? They don't have to be white and boring to be pure. He loves everything about us. Those crayon marks are masterpieces to Him. After all, He DID create us. And while we are not perfect, I would bet He's pretty proud of His creation :) Looking at the crayon masterpieces on my walls only reminds me even more of God's beauty, because it's through the eyes of a child we see the world for what it really is. A gift from our Heavenly Father! Now, when I look at my beautiful dutch boy/girl white quilt with marker "stains"... I no longer see stains. I see a gift from my beautiful son that has lasted 7 years so far, and will be there forever to remind me of how much he loves me!

So-what's on YOUR walls?