HOPE-Living
Color is an integral part of the creation. Without God, there would be no color or anything else. There would not be different skin colors. Interesting that blood in our bodies bleeds red no matter what color the skin color is.
Once, a music teacher equated different colors to various musical instruments. Giving each student a sheet of paper and different colored crayons, she gave the instructions. ‘Color what you hear, no picture, just scribble on the paper the color the sound of the trombones, trumpets, clarinets, drums, violins or other instrument you hear.’ Then she began playing the recording of the Grand Canyon Suite by Ferde Grofe.
Mom gave me a set of water paints when I was seven years old. I was enthralled at seeing all the colored paints in the box and began to paint. I didn’t know that drying was part of the process of painting. Soon, after painting with every different color, without drying, I soon had a muddle of wet brown in the center of my thin paper. It takes the Creator to make glorious color that speaks to our hearts.
Often I wonder at living in a world without the sense of sight and losing the joy of God’s creation around me. Why do we take extraordinary pictures, and why do multiple painting exist by artists who had no other way to express the joy of praising God, except by painting images of His Creation.
Many years ago, I watched my mother exulting in the beauty of the flowers blooming in her garden. To me, then, a flower was just a flower. Since then, I have learned to enjoy the complex designs and the shades of God-colors all around me.
Imagine living in the time of Noah, when God created a multi-colored rainbow that we now know encircles the earth when it appears. It is His Promise of Love to the people of the earth – a foundational message, “I love you!”
When our pastor introduced a quote taken from, The Colors of Hope: Becoming People of Mercy, Justice and Love, by Richard Dahlstrom, it spoke to me. The quote? Our hope calls us to be Agents of Hope, a well of water – living water springing up.
How can we be Agents of Hope? LOVE! Loving God and loving others unconditionally is the essence of Hope shared. In a world cluttered with hate, deceit and the desire for power, Love is rare. Love that envelops us with kindness and gentleness that brings distress to those who do not know God. Clean the clutter of the world with faithfulness to Jesus, who loves by following Him. He is a servant of all and was crucified, beaten and scourged because of his forever-love. Jesus did this to be the blood sacrifice for our sins of all people past and all people now and in the future. He conquered death by being raised from the dead on the 3rd day.
A reviewer of the book writes: Those who wish to paint with hope must be observant. Dahlstrom writes about his friendship with a master painter and art teacher. One of the first tasks the painter needed to accomplish with her students was teaching them to see the detail of their subjects. It wasn’t enough to notice a shadow, the students needed to see the rich gradient of shades that made up the shadow. In the same way, we need to be sure that we’re actually seeing people as God sees them. Richard offered practical and wise ways to notice how we label, judge, and categorize others. The book provided me with a fresh challenge to see and enjoy people for who they are without judgment.
When I began painting with a friend several years ago, we spent hours creating large murals on the wall. We began observing varied gradients and shades of color in all of nature. Trying to capture the reality of God’s Creation became the goal of our painting and telling stories and messages in paint.
Painting with Hope-Living is not pronouncing black judgments on others, but observing each one with love and hope and faith, the primary colors of God. Our perspective changes when we love with hope and pray for others. When we love others with the Jesus kind-of-love, we give others the chance to enjoy being real and open to our Father in Heaven. ‘It’s not my fault’ or ‘It’s not fair’ are two phrases that will not be used. ‘Everyone should’ condemnations are no more.
When fear, disaster, illness, impending death, the black color comes upon us, we are painted by a black hopeless. Cover the Trust-in-Jesus color across our minds and hearts and watch the black despair turn to the color of hope. And notice that the color of peace that comes harmonizes your heart to God Himself.
– – When we have learned not to give up, it shows we have stood the test. When we have stood the test, it gives us hope. Romans 5:4
– – I have told you these things so you may have peace in Me. In the world you will have much trouble. But take hope! I have power over the world!” John 16:33
– – We are waiting for the hope of being made right with God. This will come through the Holy Spirit and by faith. Galatians 5:5
– – We thank God for the hope that is being kept for you in heaven. You first heard about this hope through the Good News which is the Word of Truth. Colossians 1:5
– – Now faith is being sure we will get what we hope for. It is being sure of what we cannot see. Hebrews 11:1
– – Let us thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. It was through His loving-kindness that we were born again to a new life and have a hope that never dies. This hope is ours because Jesus was raised from the dead. I Peter 1:3
– – We are to be looking for the great hope and the coming of our great God and the One Who saves, Christ Jesus. Titus 2:13
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