We put up our Christmas Tree this week. I let my toddler decide on the colors we were going to use. He chose blue, so we went to the store and picked out some blue christmas tree decorations since we had none at home. For the past six years I've decorated our Christmas Tree with golds and browns and reds. Nothing flashy. No tinsel. Just a few special ornaments, some handmade things, and a few dream catchers. Always atheistically pleasing to my own personal tastes.
Last year I told my husband I wanted our tree to be more colorful for the kids to enjoy. I felt like the way I had been decorating looked too "grown-up" for the kids. Which is why I decided to let my toddler pick out some decorations. We bought some blue and silver tinsel and some really shiny blue and silver ornaments and I was actually thinking it would look really nice in our living room. We panted the walls light blue back in January and redecorated everything in creams and browns and blues. I was really proud of my son picking something that would fit perfectly in our home. But, like all toddlers, his color choice didn't end up being just blue...When we started decorating he pulled out all of my husband and I's very colorful childhood ornaments. And, what started off as a themed tree turned into a collage of colors. It may sound silly, but I didn't like it. I didn't like it at all. Well, not at first.
I'm getting a lot better at letting my personal opinions of coordination go and really appreciating my son's tastes in decor. Sometimes I feel like his artistic flare is a bit chaotic, but it's also really beautiful. It wasn't easy to see the beauty in it at first. My thematic pull was definitely a hindrance. I can be very particular when I theme things and color coordinate them. My dresser is a prime example of the way I think. For years, I have organized my clothes by color. Earth tones in one drawer, blacks whites and grays in another, warm colors by themselves, and cool tones in the last drawer. That old saying, "A place for everything and everything in it's place" is like the Hallelujah Chorus in my ears. But, the more I let go and let my son teach me about organization, the more I realize that organized chaos really is beautiful.
I started thinking about God's creation. The rainbow--a collage of colors--God's promise.
"I set My rainbow in the cloud, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant
between Me and the earth."
Genesis 9:13
Wildflowers--an array and variation of shades and colors--a sign of God's provision.
“Has anyone by fussing in front of the mirror ever gotten taller by so much as an inch? All this time and money wasted on fashion—do you think it makes that much difference? Instead of looking at the fashions, walk out into the fields and look at the wildflowers. They never primp or shop, but have you ever seen color and design quite like it? The ten best-dressed men and women in the country look shabby alongside them."
Matthew 6:27-29
Tears streamed down my face as I thought about these things. I watched my son decorate the tree. It wasn't just crazy colorful, it was Godly. It was holy. The more I meditated on these thoughts, the more I realized it was the gift of childlike faith that makes everything work together and dwell together in harmony--reds and oranges, yellows and greens, blues and purples, and everything else in-between all side by side. No division. No judgement. No segregation.
It isn't until we reach a place of adult understanding (but most likely not wisdom) that we start feeling the need to separate things. We don't just separate colors though. We separate each other by financial class, by race, by culture, by language, by religion, by gender, by where we grew up vs. where we are now, and by likes and dislikes. The list keeps on going on and on until "everyone has a place and everyone in there place" and we say, "it is good." But, we're all forgetting about what God says is good.
"How good and pleasant it is when God’s people live together in unity!"
Psalm 133:1
I don't think King David meant, "how good and pleasant it is when every one acts the same, looks the same, and agrees all the time." I think he meant that God is pleased when we all love one another enough to peacefully and genuinely appreciate our differences.--like a rainbow or a field full of wildflowers.
I want to be childlike in my faith. I want to see the beauty in everything. I want to look at everything and be able to say from the bottom of my heart, "Wow, that is incredibly beautiful." I want to always be in awe of everything God does--no matter who or what He uses to display His beauty.
"At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who then is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” Then Jesus called a little child to Him, set him in the midst of them, and said, “Assuredly, I say to you, unless you are converted and become as little children, you will by no means enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore whoever humbles himself as this little child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever receives one little child like this in My name receives Me."
Matthew 18:1-5
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