A Little Help From My Friends

Like a good many bloggers I have taken quite a long break from writing. No excuses, just haven’t felt it. I’m back now. And to start off my “backness” I am posting this piece written on FaceBook by my close Friend, Ann. I will write a followup on my next post. There is a lot swirling in my mind and fingers about this beautifully written truth.

Enjoy.

Cate B

Ann Lehman

17 July 2021  · 

If you grew up “plain” like I did, you know that there were many forbidden colors. In our world, colors were not all created by God. There were many worldly, sinful colors. And very few holy colors. There was an extreme black and white view of God and scripture. The following is a verbal processing, if you will, of the dismantling of that system for me. It’s an unapologetic declaration of freedom. And I’m letting that freedom ring for whoever else needs to hear it.

All of my life I have been told

There’s a left and a right.

There’s a black and a white.

No brilliant colors, no gray.

Not all colors are equal.

Not all colors are legal.

And wearing all the colors

Is what the ungodly do.

Surely the color scarlet

Is the symbol of the harlot.

And purple mocks Jesus

The way the soldiers did.

White is only for Sundays

On the only days we are pure.

Only the dark, the somber,

The muted, the plain

Only these evidence the humility

Required from Gods chosen.

Wearing light, bright colors,

Surely show hearts, full

Of deadly pride and poison.

I tried to wear them

These black and white lenses

That religion required.

But they tripped me up.

I fell flat on my face

In the filthy muck

Of suffocating shame

Of never measuring up.

They blinded my eyes

To the crimson scandal

Of GRACE that flows wild

Over the black and white

And changes it all

To rainbows of living color.

There’s black and white, true.

No denying.

But there’s a million more hues

Created by the One who spoke

The universe into motion.

Exuberantly breathed to life

Every color under the sun

And declared in full confidence:

IT IS GOOD!

So why should I try

To paint over it all

With black and white

And distort the glory

And living colors

Of the greatest love story?

Religion, take back your distorted lenses!

I don’t need them anymore.

Love healed these blind eyes

Now I see GRACE, a scarlet tide

Now I live found in full color.

In breathtaking, swirling hues of

Extravagant Love that lives

And breathes and flows

Alive and well and restoring

The black places of my soul

Where religion stole

Color, beauty, and innocence.

So let the River flow

Until it is all returned

To the way You intended.

I Need Color

I am still getting to know my camera and the zooming in part.

Here, in The Middle of the USA, the summer can get rather hot and things begin to dry up. We had a great spring and beginning of summer.

But now, the drying up has begun. I decided to find color. Any color besides browns and tans. They have their place – I especially miss the tan M&Ms.

Here is what I have found so far…….

Enjoy!

Cate B

Here in the Waiting Room

waiting for a cookie

Waiting is very hard for me.  Is it easy for anyone?  Well, I’m sure there are some of you that wait better than I do and perhaps even enjoy the waiting.  God bless you.

But this is about me – I want to embrace the waiting.  I want to get every single drop of the moisture  of learning, of knowing, of love out of the waiting.  I want to paint the waiting room walls a cheery yellow with green accents and a touch of orange so as long as I need to linger I can enjoy the wait.

So, here I am in the waiting room.  Trying to focus on the One who sits with me as I wait.  Trying to focus on Him and the tasks set before me that can be worked on while waiting ………

Waiting for what, you ask?  I am simply waiting for the desires of my heart to come to pass.  The promises lovingly spoken to me to blossom to their fullest.  Writing these words suddenly makes the walls a brighter yellow and my heart beats a little faster feeling the anticipation of windows opening and doors being flung wide.

Ahh, fresh, sweet air coming to me on bright frilly breezes…… here in the Waiting Room.  🙂

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