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I’m a colorful person. What do I mean by that? Well, a few thing. I’m slightly OCD, so I organize almost everything and I color-code a lot. I’m one of those people who gets giddy at the prospect of highlighters and laughs maniacally over post it notes. I load my dishwasher the same way every time, and Lord help you if you don’t separate the silverware! I use task lists like no body’s business. I color code my clothes and hang them in a particular order. I fold things the same way every time and make sure the corners match up just right. Folding a piece of paper is a colossal event for me, guys. I like order. I like consistency. And I really like efficiency.
But it’s more than that. I don’t just use colors to help me stay organized; I also see things in color. No, I’m not just saying I’m not color-blind. (But I do almost cry when I watch the videos of people putting on those glasses that allow them to see color for the first time. How cool is that?!) I mean that I tend to assign a color to people and ideas too. For example, when I was in college, I was in charge of the office schedules where I worked. I created the work schedule, the dusting schedule, the chalk charts, etc., and each person in the office had a designated color. So, each time the person’s name came up on any of the charts or schedules, they were always highlighted with the same color. It made it easy to know what your job was at a glance. Furthermore, every time I think of those people, I think of their colors too.
As some of you know, I do a lot of arts and crafts. I have an Etsy store that I post some of my projects to occasionally. I deal with yarn a lot and I love exploring new color schemes. I like playing with different shades of colors and mixing and matching them to create a collection of colors that compliment each other. My scrapbooks have color themes for their pages too. I own more Crayola crayons than should be legal (and yes, they are all organized from darkest to lightest in ROY-G-BIV order cause why wouldn’t I?) I experiment with them in my stacks of princess and cartoon-themed coloring books and am an expert in which colors work well over top of each other. I’m obsessed with sunsets and mesmerized by the way the colors blend into each other and appear and fade in the sky. Are you starting to see my meaning? I just love colors! For everything!
Now, why am I rambling on about colors? I wanted to give you a little bit of background about me and who I am so that maybe this next part won’t sound so…strange? I have two concepts that I want to try to share with you guys. One is about time and the other people, but they’re both kind of the same idea, so hang on tight!
Have you ever thought about the scope of your life? Your life as a whole is made up of each and every day that you live. Each day is different, obviously. Even if you’re doing the same things over and over again, like waking up, brushing your teeth, going to work, cooking supper, etc. Even despite these small repetitions, each day is a new experience with different nuances and unique interactions that make the days each their own. Some days are brighter than others but sometimes it’s easy to just feel like they all bunch together.
We talked a little about Going Through the Motions a few weeks back. Do you ever have trouble separating out the days in your past? Eventually, when you look back, the days all blur together. I call those the gray days. But, then you have those days where something stands out. It doesn’t have to be a monumental memory or some grand vacation to Europe with your best friend; though, sometimes those are colorful days. Colorful days are the days you remember, the days that stand out among all of the blurry gray days of your past. They’re the days that you were blissfully happy or that something happened that you’ll never forget, the days that are set apart in your memory.
When’s the last time you remember feeling so ecstatic that you couldn’t contain the emotion? Have you ever burst with sheer delight? I believe that sometimes God gives us a small taste of His pure joy. And sometimes we just have good days for seemingly no reason. Sometimes two complete strangers stop to help you change your tire. It doesn’t matter that you don’t speak the same language. It doesn’t matter that you can change the tire yourself. They stopped to be kind and it left an impression on you. Those are colorful moments that make colorful memories that make colorful days. And in the end, each day will come together like the pieces in a puzzle to create one big picture. How many colorful pieces will there be? And what can you do to give someone else a colorful piece?
That brings us to the second concept, which is very similar. Instead of thinking about time, think about people. Your life is a single thread that will be woven into a tapestry of lives. That means that every other life is a thread too. Now, think about the people who mean the most to you, the people in your life who have made the deepest impact. There are a select number of people in my life that I can’t think of without smiling or feeling so incredibly thankful to have known them. I think of those people as golden threads. I see their lives intersecting with mine for just a small moment in time and that intersection shines as bright as the sun.
These are the people I knew for a time, people who have moved on in my life, but people I will never ever forget for as long as I live. They are the people who warm my heart. When I think of them, I am overjoyed at the memories I have of them and humbled to have known them. They are the people I look up to, admire, and respect. These are the people I strive to be more like and the people I thank God for every day. I pray a storm over these people because even if I never see them again, I am changed because of them.
You know, you may never know who you touch and how deeply you move them. Be careful with the words you speak and the actions you take because one moment is all it takes to change a life forever. Be intentional about the way you carry yourself and the way you interact with others, even when no one’s looking. Be a light in this dark, dark world.
Who are your golden threads? What are your colorful days? Take the time to thank the people who have helped to shape who you are today. Find those golden threads in your life and thank them for who they are and what they’ve done. Let them know that you admire them and that they have helped to make you a better person. And then do what you can to be someone else’s golden thread and to make someone else’s day colorful. Give to others what you cherish and always, always remember to be grateful for those small golden moments and bright, golden threads.
Love always,
Coralie
True Colors Cyndi Lauper, Phil Collins, Anna Kindrick and Justin Timberlake (Trolls Movie)