Saturday, March 11, 2006

Seeing Red

I ran across a site the other day that had the listings of what different cultures thought about colors. Red in the Western Culture denotes courage and love. But the Chinese use red for their bridal gowns and Americans use white. I thought that was interesting that in the short paragraph they chose to make that clear. Were they saying that perhaps brides should wear red because it denotes courage and love?
Then, the idea hit me as not being so strange after all. It does take courage to vow to stand by someone for life. It does take courage to open that emotional part of you that is so vulnerable, you could easily be crushed if the other person chooses to stomp heavily on you. And it does take courage to look at yourself and realize you have selfish parts that will have to be controlled in order to make a good marriage. None of us are perfect, right. Yet the one we love deserves the best we can give.
Red might not be such a bad idea.
Oh, and there's love. You have to love someone to accept him, or her, warts and all.
I'm really getting into this red wedding dress image.
And then my mind does one of those quantum leaps that lands me in my spiritual realm. I'm flabbergasted. I realize that many people don't have the courage to become Christians because they don't trust themselves to stand by God for the rest of their lives. (Someone needs to explain that God doesn't expect you to be perfect in this new relationship. That's His job.) They don't have the courage to reveal the sore parts of their hearts. (Someone needs to explain God is in the habit of healing, not hurting.) And some don't have the courage to look at their own wretchedness and be willing to try to bring those things that displease God under control. (Someone needs to tell them God helps in these areas. He doesn't sit back and sneer at our sin.)
And there's love. The more He loves us, warts and all, the more we love HIM for accepting us.

Red stands for courage and love. Muse on that and see what you come up with.

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