“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 21:19-21 (NIV)
Revelation 21:19-21 (NIV)
I was one of those kids who sniffed a box of new crayons and imagined the Northern Lights, or a double rainbow, or the ocean with clouds drifting overhead transforming the water from teal to pea soup green to robin’s-egg blue. My standard back-to-school box of eight crayons wasn’t enough. I wanted the box of sixteen, then twenty-four, then forty-eight crayons. The big box of sixty-four colors was my idea of perfection. Colors like Prussian Blue, Maize, Orchid and Apricot gave my muse exactly what she needed to let down her hair and attempt to re-create the universe on a piece of stark white paper.
As an adult, I've continued my search for new and exciting colors. My current obsession is with Benjamin Moore’s “My Perfect Color” web site. There, I can peruse colors that match my mood, from sleepy — “Moonlit Sidewalk,” “Silver Clouds," “Quiet Haze” — to bold and adventurous – “Deep Mystery,” “Kilimanjaro Thunder," “Australian Desert.” I've learned that any color I can imagine exists somewhere as a paint chip, each one inspired by something in God's creation.
Last week, I read two books that fed my passion for color, “Heaven is for Real: A Little Boy's Astounding Story of His Trip to Heaven and Back” (Todd Burpo and Lynn Vincent, Published by Thomas Nelson) and “90 Minutes in Heaven: A True Story of Death & Life” (Don Piper and Cecil Murphey, Published by Revell). Each tells the story of a near-death experience, and each provides a hint of the colors in heaven. Both are strikingly similar as they suggest that heavenly colors are beyond any earthly description.
Little Colton Burpo tells us that there are “lots and lots of colors” in heaven. Using a preschoolers’ vocabulary, he can only describe them by saying, “That’s where all the rainbow colors are.” Don Piper takes us one step further in his book. He writes, “As I looked around, I could hardly grasp the vivid, dazzling colors. Every hue and tone surpassed anything I had ever seen . . . Everything around me glowed with a dazzling intensity. In trying to describe the scene, words are totally inadequate, because human words can’t express the feelings of awe and wonder at what I beheld.”
Some of the first words that God spoke to us through the Bible were, “Let there be light.” (Genesis 1:3). As He expanded His creation from light to the sky and the earth, God created colors that He allowed man to name. As I write this blog post, I look around me soaking in all those colors and marveling at their beauty. Then I imagine, beyond my big box of crayons and seemingly infinite number of paint chips, the colors that exist in heaven. Vivid colors. Dazzling colors. Colors so stunning and so indescribable that only God can speak their names.
What effect do earthly colors have on your relationship with God?
2 comments:
Hi Jean -
I must pick up Heaven Is For Real.
Once again, your post has inspired me to look beyond the beauty we see here. Perhaps before the fall of man, earth's colors were as brilliant as heaven's.
Blessings,
Susan :)
Love this post, Jean. I, too, was fascinated with crayons and colors when I was little-always dreaming of that big box of 64 with the sharpener in it.
Beautifully written and so inspiring!
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