You Should Have Seen It In Color!

Yep, plagiarizing! For those of you who read my blog and listen to country music have heard this song. So I apologize for not coming up with my own title but this one seems to fit perfectly. If you haven't heard this song, let me give you a little history. The singer is the persona of a young man talking to his grandfather and looking at old black and white pictures. For each picture, the grandfather tells a detailed story and then says "you should have seen it in color". I recently received some pictures, a mix of black and white and color pictures, from my mom's family and dad's family. She actually had to go thru some old stuff in her sister's home to find these and they are pretty interesting. Like most old pictures, there is some tell tale story on the backs of them. I love each and everyone of the pictures. Especially the black and white ones, there has always been something about black and white pictures that I love the most. There always seems to be something that I miss each time I look at them. A facial expression, a hidden item in the background, something. My kids can't believe the thickness and feel of the pictures and I forgot how much of my life was in those black and white pictures. There are several but some that stick out the most is the fact that for the first time in my life I got to see my Dad's Grandfather! A history that I always knew was there wasn't really real until then. I mean I knew Dad and Grandpa didn't just crop up from the ground but seeing Charlie in an old picture just brings our family history together. I would have loved to have seen it in color. I can just imagine the color of the trees and grass around the old shanty that Charlie built for his family. I can almost see the black stain on the side board house amidst the woods and the gray and white smoke billowing out of the old pipe chimney. On second thought, I like the black and white pictures better.
I often see life in black and white and I expect everything to be in black and white. I am either on the right side of good or the bad side of good...right? I can hold judgment against anyone that I want to whom I believe is in the wrong, the black part of the picture. And when someone is completely and totally right in my eyes, I can hold them up to a great standard, the white part of the picture. But the picture isn't really black and white when you look at it. Look again. Those old black and white pictures are really shades of gray. Various shades from a pale, soft gray to a dark, foreboding gray. But not black and white.
God is often moving around me in those black and white parts of life. "I set before you life and death, that you may chose life." Pretty black and white! Life or Death! I never understood this verse before, never had to understand it, until recently. God created me for Him not for me. And yes even though I see things in black and white and a majority of the things around me are black and white in determination, God often throws in some shades of gray. "I set before you life and death..." What if I can't tell which is which? How do I determine what I'm suppose to do and how I am suppose to react and walk in God's "life"? Ok so maybe those "gray" pictures aren't so cool after all. I just want it black and white that would make life so much easier so much more 'planned'. Wow, wouldn't that be great!!!
I think that God gives me gray and more often than not more gray rather than black and white. That is when I am suppose to seek His wisdom and guidance to determine where life is, or to see the color pictures. I know more now than I wanted to know. Like when there is a problem and I don't know what to do, I'm suppose to seek God's guidance and answer for the situation. Sometimes, not always but sometimes, the answer is plain and simple - or black and white. I know exactly what to say, do, how to react, and it's exactly right. Other times, the path is gray, hidden from me in a way that I'm stumbling over my own feet to find the right things to say or the right way to react. This is when God draws me closer to Him. This is just a few of those times when God says, ok do it on your own if you want to but I offer you Life. The opportunity to give it to Me and seek My way instead of your own. I believe now more than ever that more and more of my life is painted in those various shades of gray. More and more, I find that in order to see the color in the picture the more I'm depending on God to direct my path. I am enjoying this part of my life, seeking God out instead of waiting for Him to find me. I love seeing the color come to life the same way color comes to those old family pictures. On second thought (or actually third thought), those "gray" pictures do hold more life in them than if they were black and white.