The Little Yellow Crayon

St. Teresa of Calcutta is one of my dear saintly friends. I spent a lot of time reading her writings and spending time with her sisters, the Missionaries of Charity. This community is probably the most hard core group of sisters around. Their love for Jesus and the poor is inspiring. They see Jesus in the poor and choose to live very simple lives. Even in the midst of poverty and simplicity, they radiate a holy joy. St. Teresa of Calcutta, their foundress, did amazing things throughout the world because of her simple ‘yes’ to Jesus and that she would refuse him nothing. When one considers all that St. Teresa accomplished, one would begin to think, “What a big saint!” However, we can see that often the saints are aware of their littleness and consider themselves small souls who place their trust in a big God. St. Teresa has been quoted, “I am a little pencil in the hand of a writing God who is sending a love letter to the world.” Notice what she is saying. Firstly, she is little. She does not consider herself this great, holy person but little. This is exactly what Jesus desires and uses- the little. She is a pencil in the hand of God. In order for a pencil to do its job, someone has to use it. Someone has to write with it! Similarly, she gave her life to God and allowed Him to use her completely in the way He wanted to. Lastly, she wanted to send a love letter to the world. How much is our world in need of knowing what true Love is. God is Love. In order to know true, authentic love, we must know God. How can others know Him? We don’t just know things on our own but often learn because we have someone to show us, to teach us. In order to know love, it has to be incarnational- in the flesh. In other words, we have to see and experience it. Similarly, St. Teresa testified of how God loves His children in this world as she demonstrated how He loves by her actions of serving the poorest of the poor and the dying.

This is great, but what does this have to do with crayons? Great question. This little phrase came to me awhile back. If St. Teresa of Calcutta is a little pencil, I want to be a little yellow crayon. We all must be. I want to be little. Not so much thinking of myself as some great holy person, but realizing that God is big, I am little. He does all things. I want to be yellow, or rather bright. Jesus has called us to be light in the world. We shouldn’t hide the light we’ve been given. Light shines even more in the midst of darkness. In reality, we need the light to see. How can others see if we are not being that light? And yes, a crayon! When I think of crayons, I think of children. I have the amazing opportunity to work with children as a speech language pathologist. Children are the best. They teach us how we should encounter God as our Father and others as our brothers and sisters. They teach us how to love, forgive, trust, be simple, and delight in the little things of life.

May St. Teresa of Calcutta intercede for us as we become the pencils, pens, markers, crayons, or any writing utensil we are called to be as we try to fulfill our mission in this world. Amen.

Shine bright,

Megan