If you ask my children, “What is your mommy’s favorite thing that God created?” they will tell you color. “She makes us color everything!” It’s true. Even my middle school age children will affirm that not only do their pictures need to be colored, but also all maps, charts, and graphs. Everything looks so much better with color.
I believe that color draws us into the picture. Now that I am older, I can appreciate an old black-and-white movie for its story. My children, on the other hand, sigh and roll their eyes if I pause the channel switching at an old flick. I think the lack of color hinders their attention. It is harder for them to be drawn into the story.
Perhaps God created color to draw us into His handiwork. Don’t we often stand in wonder of its beauty? Many people who do not know God come to recognize His existence just by contemplating the marvels of creation. Those who do know God find ease in praising and adoring Him in the world around us. God’s colorful design inspires awe and wonder.
Think of the pictures little ones draw: flowers, butterflies, rainbows. Simplistic in line; colorful in design. Kids naturally imitate God’s creative spirit in their own artistic creations.
God put so much color into our world, and not just color, but shades of color. Blue. Blue is my favorite color. There is not a shade of blue I do not like!
It should be of no surprise, then, that God would adorn with a variety of color His most valued physical creation – man. How beautiful are the many shades of people! From the pale, freckled skin of an Irish girl to the sun-kissed skin of a Latino boy; from the olive tone of a Mediterranean woman to the dark ebony color of an African man and all the shades in between, God’s glory shines forth in the faces of human beings.
We are all made in the image and likeness of God. Mostly, God’s image and likeness is found in the soul. Still, our bodies reveal God’s almighty, all-loving, all-creative power. Because each and every person, body and soul, is the prized possession of our Heavenly Father, we are called to love and respect everyone.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who always carried his Bible with him whenever he protested, once said, “We must learn to live together as brothers or we will perish together as fools.” The good preacher and civil rights leader understood that we all have the same Father. We all need to come to the full understanding of this very basic truth. From there, we must learn to love all our brothers and sisters. We would, indeed, be fools not to love one another.
God is love. Therefore, I can say most confidently that love is not color-blind. Looking at the world around me that my Father created and gazing at my brothers and sisters in Christ, I see that love is colorful — very colorful, indeed.
Copyright 2020 Kelly Guest
This article was originally published at CatholicMom.com and is shared here with permission.
