There’s something about going to places of business enough that they know you by name.  Some might say I’m in a rut, but I would argue that I’m building relationships and, at my age, I know what I like and I stick with it.  Anyway, I’m going through my favorite drive-through fast food place the other day where the woman at the window knows my name.  Our conversations at the very beginning were about my car.  You know, that cute little bright yellow bug?  Anyway, she and a co-worker were punching each other and saying “slug bug!”.  These are not young people by the way.  The conversations have expanded since then, but the other day, she shares with me that she had bought a new car and I should look at it when I get around the building.  “You can’t miss it”, she says, “it’s bright green and I LOVE it!”  Good for you, I say – life is too short to not have fun. 

Sure enough, I go around the building and there it is, that really bright green car.  She was so excited about it, and not because of the type of car it was but because of the color.  In our neck of the woods, especially on the south side of town where the income level is a little higher, everyone drives a white, black or gray colored vehicle.  Sometimes you’ll see a muted red (we do live in Nebraska after all), but it’s a pretty neutral world in terms of car color.  Sometime I would love to see my car from others’ perspectives.  That bright yellow, happy little car in among the sad gray, black and white cars must just pop.  And that’s the way people describe it – happy.  Some days I really need that happy colored car.

A couple of days ago I drove up to a drive thru for a favorite morning beverage and the girl at the window commented on my car.  Said she thought about getting a bug but then she found a bright yellow Mini Cooper convertible.  Her parents hate it, but she loves it.  There are definitely worse ways a young person can rebel against their family.  And not everyone likes my car either.  I did have a woman look it up and down one day and say, “well, it couldn’t be more yellow, could it?”.   She was trying. 

Look, I get neutrals.  They make a great backdrop for color in my opinion. They give anything a “classy” look.  I grew up in an avocado green, harvest gold environment that continued into the rose and country blue period and although it was technically “color”, it sure wasn’t happy.  When I asked for bright pink and purple for my room, I was told it was gaudy, so I tried to like l blue instead.  Still colorful but toned down a bit in the hopes I would find something less gaudy.  It didn’t work. Then I learned about the color wheel and now my house has a lot of blue with pops of orange.  Orange is happy.  Orange pops.  Orange scares some people, but not me.

Color for me is visual music.  Music isn’t all gray, black and white.  There are pops of color in music, it’s the color that makes life exciting. Color can be loud and soft, high or low intensity, just like music and I want to be surrounded by both.  I once had a discussion with a band parent about having green flags for our colorguard instead of the school’s colors of black and orange (tigers of course).  Not all music is black and orange.  Sometimes it’s green, or blue or bright red. Just like life, we can choose to live in a neutral, comfortable world without a lot of variation, or we can choose to add some bright colors to it, have a little adventure, and maybe even do something that people don’t like but you do it anyway because it speaks to you.   

I think of God when I see colors in nature.  He certainly didn’t stick with the neutrals.  Can you imagine a sunrise or sunset without all those bright colors?  Could you imagine the water around the Florida Keys being any less blue?  Spring is the optimum color palette and I always think why not bring that into my home all year around? Just look at a group of people with all their different hair colors, eye colors and skin tones.  This is a God who loves color and purposefully created with color.  Why shouldn’t I try to embrace that?

Maybe it’s a little silly to think you can change the world with color, but if it makes people smile and take the chance to bring more color into their own lives, it’s certainly a positive thing.  In the meantime, my happy little yellow bug and I will continue to do our best to make people smile and consider a little more color in their lives.