The Color Green

What would it be like if God hadn't gifted creation with color? Today I'm thinking about the color green for several reasons. First I'm working on a new tree of life ministry stole. It will debut on eBay with our other specials later this week. Secondly, I find it interesting that the colour green in scripture comes from several Hebrew words: 'yereq' meaning green or green thing; 'yaraq' meaning green herbs, vegetables or garden greens; 'lach' meaning green or moist, fresh or new in the sense of plants ; 'abiyb' meaning green ears of corn; 'ra‘anan' meaning green and flourishing; 'eb' meaning fresh green or green shoots; 'ratob' meaning green, moist juicy fresh; ' yarowq' meaning green thing. So many meanings....and the artist in me thinks of so many different shades of green! These words translated as green have a connection with green flourishing plant life of one species or another. Lastly this brings me to the thought of spending time in nature as being very restful and bringing tranquillity and peace of mind. Like when David wrote of God, "He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake." Psalm 23:2-3 So we can see a connection in the Bible between green pasture and the spiritually restorative nature of God's word. I've joined a new small group that is built around a meditation based on scripture followed by a group walk where the passage can be discussed as much or as little as we feel inspired to do while enjoying the natural environment and the calming effect this provides. This morning when we walked I marveled at the deep greens in the woods starting to change to the royal colors of fall and when we passed the cows in the pasture several people actually commented on the calming feeling of seeing them. I'm signing off remaining thankful for the color green and it's many associations.