Splashes Of Red!

Purple, pink, purple-pink, yellow...red. Purple, red-purple, yellow, light purple, green. My backyard-my flowers.

I've been told I am too matchy-matchy. Every color has to blend.

I can hear my daughters voice ringing in my ears; "Mom, everything does not have to match ex-act-ly!"

Not this time!

Last summer I decided my kitchen and dining room needed a change. Hours I spent, (or wasted), finding all the colors that blended perfectly with teal. First choice; a picture. Store to store I went, eyes roaming up and down the walls of Hobby Lobby, Bed Bath and Beyond; and my favorite, Gordmans , just to name a few. It took days for my neck to return to a straight position again.

So many to choose from: too much teal, too little teal, much too modern, not sure what THAT is? Too country, too small, too big, too scary, ugly frame, ugly picture...oh wait, back up.

“Oops, there it is!” Haha...did I just say that?

Indeed there it was. The perfect blend of colors, each representing a shade in my dining room. Teal, of course. Brown for the wood table and hutch. Cream, perfect match to my upholstered chairs. A little green, drawing color from my fake plant. Buttercup gold flowers; near perfection to my entry way hall walls, which can be viewed from any of my dining room chairs facing that direction.

My heart raced just a little as the clerk climbed the ladder to pluck it from the wall. Once home, I made a beeline for the dining room, anticipating that moment when all the colors of the room found a home in my prize pick. Hammer and nail finished with its work, I stepped back to enjoy the view. Perfect! They all matched!

Wanting to share this moment with someone I love, and, the only female of the family available and slightly interested in my new found treasure, I dialed my daughters number.

Sure, she could come over. Just give her a few minutes.

Great! That would give me the time I needed to set the scene. Opening the doors of my hutch I gathered all the pretties I'd been putting aside to set the table. Each one, of course, picking up a color from my picture palate. I finished just as I heard the door open.

Anna entered my perfectly matched room as I held my breath, waiting for the oohs and ahs.

“What do you think?'

“Uh, it's nice mom"

Slowly walking around the table she stopped in front of my prize picture. Was it only a few seconds before she spoke? Seemed like an hour.

“You need red in here mom.”

“What? Anna, no way! I spent hours matching every color in that picture to pull this thing together. Red would look like a 'bull in a china shop'. Why red? Nowhere is there red in this room."

“Come here mom, look.” Pulling me toward the picture, her finger landed on the specks in the middle of my beautiful yellow flowers. There it was. Red!

How could I have missed it? And who mistakenly put such an outlandish choice of color in my picture? There was no denying it.

“You need something big with red in it Mom...and it doesn't need to be the same shade of red.”

“What!”

“You always try to match, blend in, be perfect. The eye is drawn to the bold, the misshaped, the splash of color,” she offered carefully.

She was right. So often I tried to make my life appear perfect. Life isn't really that mundane. God colors the world with a rainbow of colors and threw in splashes of red to make it adventurous. It draws us into him and helps us see beyond our design of perfect works.

A few days later, walking through a store with my lovely, insightful daughter, she stopped me in my tracks. “Mom, that's it!”

Turning my head there sat a totally out of character lamp with a bright red shade. I would have never picked it...but that day, I did.

It graces my odd shaped, wrong color table that sits in the corner of my perfect room. Each time I enter that room I smile and remember to let God color my life with the unexpected, and splashes of red.