WHEN TO GIVE UP YOUR PAINT BY NUMBER DREAMS TO GOD

Are you a dreamer and a planner with a list of goals and a step-by-step action plan of how to achieve them? How is that working for you? What happens when life does not meet your expectations? When is it time to give up your paint by number dreams?

REMEMBER THE PAINT BY NUMBER KITS?

I am throwing it way back today as I recall a favorite activity from my childhood: the paint by number kits.  Do you remember those?  Did you love them as much as I did?  😉

For us wanna-be artists they were essential, right? As you can see from the photo below, the kit came with a board printed with gray lines outlining some beautiful scene, animal, or person. Each area had a number and corresponding paint to use. Easy peasy! If you stuck with it and followed the directions, you could create your very own masterpiece.  And if you were really good, sometimes you could even pass it off as your very own artwork!

Wikipedia tells me that these kits were invented, developed, and marketed in 1950 by Max S. Klein, an engineer, and owner of the Palmer Paint Company of Detroit, Michigan, and Dan Robbins, a commercial artist.  Thank you, Max and Dan, for hours of childhood fun!  Funny thing is, I don’t really remember ever having fully completed one of my paintings…they took a steady hand and lots of time.

WHY WE WANT OUR DREAMS TO BE LIKE A PAINT BY NUMBER KIT

Anyway, I think the reason I was so attracted to these paint by number kits had something to do with my Type A, firstborn, perfectionist personality.  I liked the minimal chance of error, the ability to stay “within the lines,”  and the guarantee of a lovely finished product. I was good at following rules and directions and felt safe with clear boundaries, so you can see why this was a perfect fit for me.

Secretly, don’t some of you wish your dreams, goals, and plans worked like a paint by numbers kit? Honestly, don’t some of us believe that they should?

Guilty.

For most of my life, I thought if I just used the proper color for the designated area (don’t you dare use Paint #5  in an area marked #3!) everything would fall into place–my life would turn out to be the beautiful masterpiece I had envisioned.

Go to the right school. Get the right job. Marry the right person. Move to the right neighborhood. Find the right church. Have the right number of kids.  And on and on…

• Make wise and thoughtful decisions.
• Stay on the straight and narrow path.
• Follow the rules and work hard.

But it did not take me too long to find out life did not work like one big paint by numbers kit.  Darn!

LETTING GO OF YOUR PAINT BY NUMBER DREAMS

There is no blueprint showing you how to map out the fulfilled life. There is no color-coded dream maker. There is no guarantee that painting within the lines will fulfill your lifelong goals.

Trust me, I have searched for these things and have been disappointed time and time again when the “secret formula” failed to yield the desired results.

And if you think becoming a Christian makes it any clearer, it doesn’t.  You need faith to follow God seriously. When Jesus calls you, He asks you to trust and obey which may mean giving up some of your plans for a picture-perfect life.

We can make our plans, but the Lord determines our steps.”

Proverbs 16:9 (NLT)

GOD IS THE MASTER PAINT BY NUMBER ARTIST

I think this means that God is not very interested in giving us a paint by numbers kit so that we can achieve our dreams and accomplish our goals.

As the Master Artist, He knows the picture He wants to paint and asks us to follow His leading without projecting our preconceived outlines onto the canvas.

That is hard for someone like me. Maybe you struggle with this too.

Even though our plans may include many good things, God desires so much more for us. More than we can conceive…way outside the boundaries of safe, comfortable, and happy.

Religion is about doing the “right things”.

Relationship is about following the right person.

GIVING JESUS OUR PAINT BY NUMBER DREAMS

Those who mistakenly believe the Christian life is only about following a set of rules or staying within the prescribed lines do not understand what it truly means to encounter the living God.

When we talk about having a relationship the right person–that person is Jesus. If you take the time to read about and his life and ministry (I highly recommend starting with the Gospel of John), you will notice rather quickly that Jesus was far from a paint by numbers kind of guy. He not only refused to use the correct colors and stay within the lines– he ripped up the entire canvas!

Why? To teach us to live a different way. To bring us freedom, grace, and unconditional love. To show us He cares far more about what’s going on in our hearts than how pretty and perfect things look on the outside.

So, when is it time to give up those paint by number dreams, plans, and goals?

• When you start to care more about how things look than about how things really are.
• When your attempts at controlling every outcome only bring you frustration, worry, and discouragement.
• When your fear of failure keeps you from risking, reaching out, and really living.

Consider giving God the paintbrush.  Allow Him to teach you to follow (without outlines and predetermined colors!) His leading as He directs your steps and creates a masterpiece far beyond what you could have hoped for or imagined.

If this post encouraged you in any way, would you mind leaving a comment, sharing it on social media, or even just letting a friend know? It would mean so very much to me!

And if you are not a fellow traveler here AT THE CROSSROADS, please join me on the journey by signing up today. It would be a privilege to walk alongside you as we let go of our paint by number dreams and give them to Jesus for something far, far better!