I received an adult colouring book for Christmas. Lest you get the wrong impression about what that really is, let me rephrase the sentence. I received a colouring book for adults. Susan did also, along with an ten-pack of coloured pencils.

Colouring books for adults are all the latest rage. (There is an app, of course, as well.) My colouring book is entitled, "Color Me Happy".  Inside are 100 templates of nature, designs,  food, animals, etc., all very intricately laid out, which you can then colour. It's a little like paint-by-numbers except here one is encouraged to  indulge in the complete freedom of unjudged expression.

According to the introduction - I don't remember my Mickey Mouse colouring books ever having or needing  an introduction - colouring is supposed to release my inner child, allowing me  time to relax, enjoy myself, meditate, express myself through colour and focus my spirit of creativity. I am told that colouring "is intended to bring about a happier emotional state as a way to help you combat feelings of negativity, sadness, fatigue or anxiety..."

Wow, and to think of all that money I spent on therapy! Crayons are much cheaper!

So I have started my first picture. I have not yet experienced  any bliss. Maybe I chose the wrong colours.

As a child I was envious of those other kids who coloured like they were renaissance painters. Every colour was smack dab between the lines.  The colours were all evenly blended, line to line; blues going where blues should go, greens where greens ought to be; nary a scribble, or a colour out of place.

No matter how painstakingly intentional  I tried to be, I could not replicate their masterpieces. I could never keep between the lines.   A block of a colour would be dark and light and show gaps where I had missed filling in. I rarely ever finished a picture, wanting to move on to the next one ASAP.

I was also jealous of anyone who had one of those Crayola, sixty-four piece  crayon sets, instead of the measly eight piece set I was using. Man, if I only had that set I would have been a Rembrandt prodigy!

I have discovered that I haven't improved much with age in my colouring style and technique. Color Me Blue!

Mind you, it is somewhat reflective of who I am as a person and how I did ministry. I have never been satisfied just colouring between the lines, accepting the designated boundaries, or using the same "colours" for everything. I like to be creative and imaginative.  I want to see what's next and improve on it. I may not be using a sixty-four pack of gifts and talents but it is amazing what colours one gets by mixing what one does have.

Colour doesn't get a whole lot of emphasis in scripture. But consider this:                                   

With all my resources I have provided for the temple of my God--gold for the gold work, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron and wood for the wood, as well as onyx for the settings, turquoise, stones of various colors, and all kinds of fine stone and marble--all of these in large quantities. (1 Chronicles 2:29)

 

It makes me think of Paul and his remarks that each of us is God's sacred temple and that God's spirit lives in you (1 Corinthians 3:16). God has provided a wonderful palette of colours for each of us to become masterpieces, something that God would be proud to put up on his celestial fridge.

 

The world and our lives need not be a dull, black and white, nor shades of gray. God did not make us to be bland and life to be colorless. Yes, every now and then, we get outside the lines, we choose the clashing colours, envy others for their brush strokes and style, or give up too soon.  Yet you and I are intended to be God's masterpieces.

 

Colour us blessed!

 

Dale