In
fall, my garden blazes with rich colors—the soft, deep purple-magenta velvet of
pineapple sage blossoms, brilliant orange and yellow butterfly weed blooms, crimson
and shocking pink knock-out roses, thick clusters of shining dark magenta
American Beautyberry seeds on the stalk, purple ruellia, scarlet fire-spike, blue
indigo salvia, pretty pink shamrock flowers, sunny yellow coryopsis, shampoo
ginger’s Christmas red and green bracts, periwinkle blue plumbago and
Pepto-pink jacobinia blooms.
I
recently returned from a faraway corner of the Garden (Seattle) where wonderful
colors of a different nature pleased my eye—the Pike’s Place open air fish
market was filled with an entire rainbow of hues found in its fresh fruit and
vegetables, silvery seafood, rows and buckets of cut flowers and other fresh
fare. Even the people were colorful,
wearing brightly woven shawls and hair jewels, adorned with feathers, boa constrictors
and large parrots as they enjoyed the autumn air together.
God
is the original artist, coloring our world with flowers and beautiful birds;
sunsets and sunrises that paint the clouds with lavender and gold; a sea full
of turquoise, aquamarine, sea greens and blues; mountains whose distant purple,
green and white peaks glimmer and sparkle in the sun. Precious and semi-precious stones have been
created in every color of the rainbow, God’s all-inclusive color palette.
Whenever
the presence of a king is described in scripture, there is color. When the great eastern king Xerxes called for
a celebration, he had his gardens decorated:
“The garden had hangings of white and blue
linen, fastened with cords of white linen and purple material to silver rings
on marble pillars. There were couches of gold and silver on a mosaic pavement
of porphyry, marble, mother-of-pearl and other costly stones. Wine was served in
goblets of gold, each one different from the other…” [Esther 1: 6-7]
God’s own home, the new city of Jerusalem, is
described as sparkling and colorful:
“It shone with the glory of God, and its
brilliance was like that of a very precious jewel, like a jasper, clear as
crystal… {the city’s} wall was made of jasper, and the city of pure gold, as
pure as glass.
The foundations of the city walls were
decorated with every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was jasper,
the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh chrysolite,
the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth,
and the twelfth amethyst. The
twelve gates were twelve pearls, each gate made of a single pearl. The great
street of the city was of gold, as pure as transparent glass.” [Revelation 21: 11 and 18-21]
And His throne:
“… there before me was a throne in heaven with
someone sitting on it. And the one who sat there had the
appearance of jasper and ruby. A rainbow that shone like an emerald encircled
the throne. Surrounding the throne were twenty-four
other thrones, and seated on them were twenty-four elders. They were dressed in
white and had crowns of gold on their heads. From the throne
came flashes of lightning, rumblings and peals of thunder. In front of the
throne, seven lamps were blazing. These are the seven spirits of God.
Also in front of the throne there was
what looked like a sea of glass, clear as crystal.” [Revelation 4: 2-6]
So
when I’m blessed by my garden—the many colors—and by God’s color in the world
around me, I can’t help but adore Him and thank Him for creating color and
splashing it liberally around us each day.
To serve the ultimate Creator is a wonderful thing!
