Living Colors

Write them on the door frames of your houses and on your gates. Deuteronomy 6:9 

I have been doing painting around our house.  Sometimes I have been painting the same color on the wall and doors; making them look fresh, covering over the scratches and scuffs and marks.  Sometimes I have been painting new colors on the wall that makes the space looks different.  Changing the color in some ways is easier, as it allows you to see where you have been.  Keeping the same in other ways is easier, because it blends and the old and new work together.  

If you had to choose one color (Like Harold in the Purple Crayon) to describe your life right now, what would it be?  And why?  The church has liturgical colors: blue at Advent for anticipation and waiting.  White for Christmas and Easter for festive days, celebrating God's presence (although I wonder if the above picture would be a better visual on those days with its kaleidoscope of colors that show how life swirls and comes together in news ways on those high, holy days).  Purple at Lent to symbolize the royalty of Jesus.  Pentecost is red for the tongues of fire that was part of the church's birthday.  Then, you have the long season of green for the ordinary after Pentecost until Advent rolls back around again.  Or maybe you would choose a non-liturgical color, which can be every bit as sacred.  Would you select orange or periwinkle or pink or maybe just one feels to limiting and you need more than that.

What if you would wear that color each day letting it speak to your life?  Our still speaking God is also still creating and casting new colors around and within us.  When the People of God came into the Promised Land they colored their door posts as a visual reminder of God's presence.  The tradition often encouraged them to touch those words they painted: that the truth would be transported from the fingerprints to their hearts.  The words they painted were the Shema: "Hear O Israel, the Lord is One."  Visually you'd see the words, opening your hearts and ears, not only inside the safety of your home, but outside in the world.  Do you practice that kind of openness?  Looking, listening, sensing God every time you walk out your door?

There is a great children's book called, God's Paintbrush, which asks a number of thoughtful questions for noticing God in our lives.  Can we as adults think about which colors connect us to God, why?  Where do you feel closest to God, why?  Where are you distant, why?  Note that it is not only the questions, but delving deeper into why you feel the way you do that can provide such insights. 

For me, painting in our house is therapeutic.  I enjoy completing a room.  It helps make the house we bought a year ago feel a bit more like ours, putting our signature and fingerprints on the space.  Plus seeing a project completed brings its own satisfaction.  You don't even have to go to the extreme of painting a room to engage in this practice...a piece of paper and crayons will do the trick...and be less of a mess too.  I pray this week you will notice the colors of creation, God's dazzling array of hues that dance around us and awaken us to beauty.  As you do this, may you sense more than a trace of God's grace...may you be drenched and saturated by the vast array of colors that surround us everywhere we go.

Blessings ~