Fiery Pineapple

I love color. 

I love the way color can draw your attention and evoke emotions. Color is all around us, but the beauty is "in the eye of the beholder" as they say. 

In high school one of my favorite songs was "Deep enough to dream" by Chris Rice. The thought of seeing new colors in heaven was absolutely captivating to me. Even now it makes my breath catch in my chest.

Its random but love the names of colors too and how they usually relate back to nature. After all, they were His to start with. Every color has a name that helps capture it and I love figuring them out. A few years ago at a women's retreat, each woman got a journal that was a sweet shade of orange but I couldn't quite name it. It was sort of a dreamsicle color but much softer. My best friend said "It's cantaloupe." I joked, "This is why I love you!!!!!!" It's a silly thing, but a perfectly named color just makes my heart happy. My living room is glacier blue and my bedroom curtains are the perfect shade of cayenne pepper. And all is right with the world. ;) 

The Lord uses color to speak to me. It's probably why I love it so much. I have lots of stories of this but the one this week made my heart soar and I have to share.

It was a typical weekday afternoon and I was driving the mom taxi. A suburban half full of squirmy kids; on my way to fill up the rest of the seats.

I had Micah, Abby and Kate and they all insisted on sitting together on the back row. They were having conversation that you would expect from 3 kids of their age and development. Intense debates about things like who loves Daddy more.

The conversation ended as they watched the Tennessee hills whiz past the Suburban windows.

And with full confidence, Kate slowly proclaims, "Je-jus loves... all of us."

That alone would have been enough to warm my heart but I'm telling you... with timing that only the Lord could orchestrate (and one of those moments that seems to pass in slow motion) we passed under a huge tree, hanging over the road: a breathtaking shade of fiery, pineapple-y yellow. And it almost glowed as the sunlight shone through it. Not a single leaf on this tree was brown, nor still green. It. was. Gorgeous. It was God speaking. He was shouting a confirmation of what came from my 3 year old's lips.

The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork. Psalm 19:1

"He sure does Kate. Jesus loves us."

I can't tell you how many times I've seen this color since that day. In friends' clothing, in mums at the grocery store, even in my own fall decorating. People would say it's one of those things... like once you buy a car you see it everywhere... but I know in my heart that every time I see this crazy gorgeous fall yellow: its the Lord telling me that I'm loved. He's winking. "Don't forget. I love you."

I wanted to take a picture to remember it forever but I was... ya know, driving. Kids. And honestly, it was too sacred to capture anyway. It was my love note. My wink. This picture was the closest thing I could find to share a little piece of the glory with you, but even it doesn't fully capture...

Photo Credit

How does the Lord wink at you? I've heard some people say He winks through things like butterflies or pennies.... but my God winks are colors. Sometimes it means different things- confirmation of decisions, peace when I need it, or just sweet nothings. Its our language, me and the Lord.

Can I just encourage you for a minute? 

God loves His kids. It's confirmed in scripture again and again. If it were only you left in the world, He still would have sent His Son to die so that you could be with Him in Heaven. And can you imagine if you were trying to tell the person that you loved, how much you love them but they weren't paying attention? 

Seek out the Lord this week. Ask Him to open your eyes to they ways He might want to speak to you. I would venture to say that daily, you'll find that He's softly... and sweetly... whispering His love for you.

Will You not bring us back to life once more
so that we, Your people, will find joy and pleasure in You?
O Eternal One, show us Your unfailing love;
give us what we truly need: Your salvation.
I will hear what the True God--the Eternal--will say,
for He will speak peace over His people,
peace over those who faithfully follow Him...
Psalm 58:6-8a (The Voice translation)