I have had the phrase SHADES OF BLUE as a part of my vocabulary for quite some time now. My connection to the color blue and the Lord came one day when I was frustrated trying to figure out why God was not helping me with a situation happening in my life. I could not understand why He didn't take action and solve the problem in the most obvious way that MY mind tagged as the standard Holy response. The problem was, of course, it was MY mind that was processing God's next move.
I went for a walk and He spoke to me...not to solve the problem at hand that day, but rather to remind me that He is a creative God, a God of not only purpose & practicality as well as creativity and uniqueness. As I looked up at the sky in my moment of pondering and prayer, I felt that I heard a whispering of the Lord prompt my thoughts, "What is your favorite color?" The answer was easy - blue. But, there was a follow up to that question, "Which shade?"
As I allowed these colorful thoughts to marinate in my mind, I realized that God did not belong in my box....I had Him in a tiny Crayola box. You know the kind....the one that only carries eight colors. You see, the problem with those boxes is that there is one basic shade of each color...one blue, one green, one red. You get the point. The thing I am learning about the Lord is that He is the BIG box of colors.
He's more than just BLUE. He is azure, periwinkle, cornflower, cerulean, and sky. The metaphorical point - God is a big God with big plans for our lives. It is unbelievable and unfortunately inevitable that we limit what He can do with us. We limit who He is entirely.
And so, as the Lord tends to do with me, He took a basic thought like my favorite color and had me turn it in to deep reflective thoughts. A rambling of ideas flowed and I wrote many of those thoughts down. Among my biggest lesson that day was not to limit God. I might think BLUE, but the Lord goes way above and beyond blue. He has painted the artwork of our lives and reveals it stroke by stroke, day by day.
When we try to figure out how to solve a problem, untangle a mess, derive directions from the Most High, we don't have the capability to see all the colors of our lives...that is where trust and faith comes into play. We are to trust that the Lord knows what He is doing and we should hold tight to the revealing truth that His timing is better than our own. That His reasoning is foolproof.
We must embrace that often when we hold the paintbrush, we paint with restraint. When God holds it, the options are limitless. Bring on the various shades of blue.
