The Saturday Journal: All the Pretty Colors

Clouds sprinkle the sky--the blue is as a teal blue. How is it skies can turn so many shades of blue? How is it the ocean waters can be green, blue, white? And God, how can the fish of the sea and animals of the forest and jungle--butterfly wings--how can they be so intricate--every color of Your artist's pallet?

It's early morning here and I can't ever remember the blues in the ocean being this vibrant blue.

Thank you, God for all the colors of this world--the seas--the skies--the flowers--the forest and trees--the animals--the many colors of our skin.

Some years ago, I served as a Community Relations Representative for Operation Christmas Child, a shoebox ministry for Samaritan's Purse. And in this role, I spoke at different churches and events sharing the shoebox ministry. During every presentation, I gave each attendee a box of crayons and I asked them to imagine seeing a box of crayons for the very first time. And then I asked them to open the box and imagine a child's face opening this box of many colors--this box of magic sticks.

Where would the ocean be without the white of the foam or the sky without the pink clouds--a rainbow without the purples and yellows and greens? The autumn forest kissed by reds, oranges, yellows, and browns?

God, You didn't have to give us this gift of all the pretty colors. But You did. And even though I don't understand it fully--I know this much--when you love someone you want to give them the best--give them the gifts of joy that bring a smile. A heartfelt gift.

I can only imagine what the Garden of Eden looked like when You presented this gift of home to Adam and Eve. My goodness, the colors they must have seen with their own eyes.

But if we'll look closely at our earth today, the night skies--God has not taken the full beauty of Eden away from us--we just fail to see it. The blues and grays of the mountain ridges--the glows of oranges and yellows in the rising and setting of the sun--the white foam of the ocean waters tumbling to the shore--the blues of the bluebirds and blue jays and fish--the flame of red in cardinals and red pandas--the tiny goldfinch--the purples of lavender and grapes--the blues and pinks and whites in the tiniest of flower petals.

The quiet came after a long day of laughter and play and he said, 'Granna, are you going to be out on the deck in the morning?' I had been getting up early--some mornings walking to the beach to see the sunrise and then coming back--sitting on the back deck--reading and drinking coffee. I answered him, 'Yes, I'll be there.' He replied, 'Good night, love you. Seeing you in the morning.'

And the next morning I could hear his little feet walking behind me and he came and jumped in my lap and we rocked for the longest time. And I thought to myself--there won't be many more days like this--he's getting bigger, and I'm getting older. We play the cloud game--he sees a cobra--I see a bird. And then a gray cloud floated over the pond in the distance and all of a sudden there it was--a rainbow tucked inside the cloud. I pointed to the cloud and told my grandson to look--there's a rainbow in that gray cloud! 'I don't see it,' he said. I point again and he says, 'Nope, I don't see it. It's already gone.'

Perhaps the gift of the rainbow on this morning was only for me to see--for me to describe to my grandson just what I saw. And perhaps it served as an important reminder to my heart--even when someone cannot see--that shouldn't hinder me from sharing with others the story of the One who loves me so much--loves us all so much--He gives daily--this gift of all the pretty colors.

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All photos @copyright Tathel Miller, unless otherwise credited to another photographer.