We writers and bloggers and artists and entrepreneurs are a creative bunch. We use words and paint and business and projects to put people right in the middle of our experience. It’s a gift, and I believe it comes from God.
You know that feeling when you finish a project and then you stand back and look at it with pride? You call your girlfriends and invite them to come over for tea and admire the color you painted on your dining room wall. You upload images to your computer and click “public” on the sharing option. You press through rejection after rejection until someone says “Yes,” to your dreams of publication. We are co-creators with God, and when we create beauty in this world, we are living into the image of God in us.
Creating something, and having people ignore it is a painful thing. It renders invisible your art, your decorating, your newest recipe, your latest blog post. It’s a bit like Alice Walker wrote in The Color Purple: “I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don’t notice it.”
When I look at the color of my skin, I see caramel and coffee with cream and sometimes Werther’s Originals. I also see a rich heritage that includes struggle and triumph and pride and steadfastness and grace and love and hope. I need you to see that. I need you to notice it. I need it to not be invisible.
I know we’ve worked hard in America to make things more equitable. To make the playing field more level. But I don’t want to lose the colors. I don’t want us to be blind to the richness of the colors God has created; especially the richness of all the different skin colors and types of hair. See my heart. See my passion. See my dreams. But please, see my color and my history and my heritage. See it. And talk about it.
Images from Haiti.
I’m travelling as part of a blogging team, working with Help One Now (VERY impressive organization). Beginning this afternoon at 2:00, my Haiti updates will be posted at TheHighCalling.org. Click over to learn about the work of redevelopment in this beautiful country.
Read posts from the rest of the team right here.
