What do you get when mixing the colors blue and red? You think know the answer? If you said purple, you would not be correct. Purple is not an actual color found in the color spectrum. Mixing blue and red creates violet. Sir Isaac Newton’s Theory of Light proved that the color spectrum consists of red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. I memorized these colors in science class under the acronym ROY G BIV. Maybe you did as well.

Whereas violet is a spectral color (single shade), purple is any of a variety of combinations of blue and red (multiple shades). Violet is a “real” color, purple is only “perceived.” Unlike the seven spectral colors, which are single wavelength colors (monochromatic), there is no single wavelength that will make you see purple. To make violet, neither blue nor red have to give up their unique attributes, but rather, it is those attributes that make violet, violet.

We live in a country in which approximately an equal percent of people lean “blue” as do “red.” Earlier this year, Pew Research Center reported that about two-thirds of registered voters identified as partisan, roughly split between blue Democrat (33%) and red Republican (32%). The remaining 35% identify as independent or something else. However, of that number, only 4% say they do not lean either blue or red, with the majority leaning almost equally toward either color.  

We don’t seem to agree on anything, in fact, we don’t even agree to disagree any longer. Instead, we live in a world of “I am right, and if you disagree with me, then frankly, you are wrong.” We seem to never see violet.

What if, in this volatile election year, each of us, regardless of whether we are blue or red, or any other color of the spectrum, made it our goal to be (or become) someone who instead of simply seeing blue and red, instead sees what those two colors, when mixed, create – violet. What if the goal of every interaction, every dialogue, was to have a relationship with the other person, rather than prove a point, or to simply be right? What if we focused not on how someone voted, but on how we treat those who voted differently than we did? What if we learned to create violet? Seeing violet does not mean giving up your blue or your red. What is does mean is knowing that both colors add a vibrancy that can only be found when mixing the colors.  

In this very divided world in which we find ourselves, where every color seems to think it is the only color in the spectrum, this mixing of diverse and sometimes very different colors might best be summed up as “artistic” peacemaking.

And if you consider yourself a follower of Jesus, being a peacemaker comes as part of the deal; it isn’t an optional add-on. In His most famous teaching, the Beatitudes, one of the things Jesus said was – “Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God” (Matthew 5:9). The apostle Paul says this, found in Romans 14:19 – “So then let us pursue what makes for peace and for mutual upbuilding.” There is a real connection that occurs between people when peace is pursued. The psalmist writes this – “Steadfast love and faithfulness meet; righteousness and peace kiss each other” (Psalm 85:10).

While blue and red are beautiful colors in and of themselves, what if instead of seeing violet as losing both blue and red, we see it as a mixing of those two distinct colors to create something of greater beauty! And it is important to remember that both colors are needed to make violet.

So, my challenge to all of us – in this polarized country we live in, what can you and I do to not just be blue or red, but rather, the mixing of blue and red into violet?

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The current culture in which we live is a steady stream of negativity. Politics. War. Weather. Sickness. Societal divide. Rising prices. And just a few days ago, an assassination attempt on the life of a former President, who is also a candidate for that same office again. Do I need to keep going?

From morning until night, we are bombarded with news and information that tends to suck the life right out of us. The half hour news program my wife and I regularly watch is most often twenty-nine minutes of “bad” followed by one minute of “good.” This barrage of bad news, our own or someone else’s, close to home or far away, takes a toll on our heart, mind, and soul? It dries us out. Do you sometimes wonder if God is taking a siesta? Or maybe, has He forgotten us?

Does your soul feel dry? Do you feel like tumbleweed, driven by the wind, rolling across the dry desert? If you are like me, when I find myself parched, it is sometimes hard to experience the closeness of God. Are you having a hard time feeling the presence of God? Has it been weeks, months, maybe even years, since you experienced God’s sweet intimacy?

Psalm 13 is a short six verse lament in which the psalmist (David) feels forgotten. David is crying out, probably yelling out, “where are you God?” He is sick and tired of waiting and he’s begging for an answer. But, amid his existential crisis, David does not wave the flag of surrender, giving up on God. Instead, the psalm’s trajectory turns as David makes a choice to keep trusting in his God’s unfailing love. This trust is not based upon feelings or circumstances, but rather solely upon God’s character. Life is not always good, but God is always good. That is the anchor that secures our trust.    

v.1 – How long, LORD? Will you forget me forever? How long will you hide your face from me?

2 – How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart? How long will my enemy triumph over me?

3 – Look on me and answer, LORD my God. Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep in death,

4 – and my enemy will say, “I have overcome him,” and my foes will rejoice when I fall.

5 – But I trust in your unfailing love; my heart rejoices in your salvation.

6 – I will sing the LORD’s praise, for he has been good to me.

The first two verses reveal what David sees as the problem. Do you see the depth of David’s despair? Four times in these two verses he cries out “How long?” Maybe right now you find yourself crying out, “How long God must this go on!”

In v.3, David petitions God. Look what he says – “Look on me and answer” and “give light to my eyes.” Can you hear the urgency in David’s voice? Quite possibly, you have that same urgency today.

David is praying for victory in v.4. If losing wasn’t bad enough, the sting of hearing the victor boast after the victory was almost too much to bear. One of the hallmarks of David’s psalms is his awareness of both God and the enemy.

We see in v.5, despite his agony, David declares God’s mercy. Even if he can rejoice in nothing else, here we see David rejoicing in God’s salvation, just possibly in that moment the only solid ground David is standing on. What are you rejoicing in today?

David began this psalm by pleading but in v.6 we see a huge transition. David’s pleading changes to praise! Even as he cries out “how long” to God, David’s eyes are enlightened, just as he asked them to be, and he moved from a place of woe is me to a place of praise, from a place of despair to a place of declaration!

So, today, whatever it is that you are facing, or how dry you feel, maybe even as you cry out “how long?,” will you allow yourself to sing Yahweh’s praise simply because He is good? Don’t let the trees or the morning mist lessen the beauty of the sun that is awaking from its night slumber.

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We all have hurts and hang-ups that we carry through life. Sometimes those wounds are only superficial, and they heal quickly. Other times, those wounds penetrate our souls, and we carry them with us for many years. It is often very painful to deal with those issues, but the damage done if we ignore those issues is usually even greater. That pain festers under the surface like a sore that never quite heals correctly.

Here is one story of not dealing with the pain of a hurtful past. It is a true story. I know it to be true because it is my story. This writing is longer than my typical ones, but I trust its message will speak to someone. Someone just like me. So, here goes…     

My high school years were filled with much pain and isolation. I felt trapped. In hindsight, often self-inflicted. I have a speech impediment and during those years my speech was in my eyes what defined me. I struggled to feel accepted. I was relentless on the grass football field and on the cinder track to be the best, as if somehow that would help me gain acceptance. Again, in hindsight, very misguided, but at the time, I thought it was my best shot at gaining acceptance. In the yearbook, I even said that I disliked cheerleaders. I didn’t really dislike cheerleaders. I disliked that they had the popularity that I longed for.  

I was from time to time on the receiving end of harsh comments regarding my speech. I carried a lot of pain and hurt away from those years. After high school graduation I distanced myself from my classmates. I would bump into them from time to time, but the pain of those high school years was too great for me to deal with. So, I ignored it, I suppressed it, and it festered, for years.

Now fast forward three decades. My wife and I were just months away from moving from one state to another to plant a church when we attended a wedding, and to my surprise, sitting at our table at the reception was one of my high school cheerleader classmates. She mentioned that we were having another class reunion in a few months. I don’t remember what I said, but the water would have to part for me to even consider attending.

When we got home from the wedding, my wife said to me, “You need to go. Church planting is hard enough and you don’t need to drag unnecessary crap into it.” No way. Well, the water was about to part. Several days after attending that wedding, I was driving to work and began to cry as I thought about high school and the junk I was carrying with me. At that moment I knew I needed to go to the reunion. I had it all planned out. My wife would go with me and be my safety net. But no, she said I needed to go on my own.            

There was one particular classmate who had regularly mocked my speech. In fact, he was a football teammate and when I struggled with my speech while calling plays, he would make comments even then, in the huddle of all places! It never ceases to amaze me as to the lengths God goes to restore us. So, on the night of the reunion, I nervously walked alone into the event and as fate would have it, the very first person I saw was this particular classmate. My first thought, “You have got to be kidding me. I knew this was a bad idea.”

We said a few pleasantries and I quickly moved on. What happened next changed my life. This classmate came back to talk with me and said this, “Dave, I have waited all these years to tell you how badly I feel about the way I acted toward you in high school.” We shared a few more words and went on our way, me with tears streaming down my cheeks. It was at that very moment that my healing and forgiveness began. And until that moment, I never once thought that he carried any pain from those high school days. We’ve not seen each other since, but that is okay.   

I hope what you get out of this story is the importance of dealing with past hurts. Today, no matter how painful it might be, I encourage you to begin to deal with the “junk” in your life that is lurking under the surface. There is tremendous freedom that comes through forgiveness, honest reflection, and dealing with your “stuff.” Jesus came to bring us freedom, not just from eternal separation from God, but also freedom from the bondages that keep us locked up (Psalm, 118:5; Isaiah 61:1).

Right now, ask God to give you the courage and strength to work through those difficult issues that are festering under your skin.

I need to add this add this epilogue. Many of those classmates, including cheerleaders, I pushed away from are friends today. With maturity I now realize the “problem” was more with me than it was with them. I did not accept myself and superimposed that lack of acceptance of me (by me) upon them. I was asking of them something they could never give me – freedom from my internal bondage to such a stupid thing as a speech impediment. It is God who has freed me up to be the person I am today, still with a speech impediment. That encounter (used by God) at a class reunion didn’t hurt either.  

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When was the last time that you were longing for something to eat even though you were not really even hungry? You just felt like eating, so you went to the refrigerator or kitchen pantry and found something, anything. But, even after eating, you still had an “emptiness” somewhere deep inside. Or maybe, it is not food, but instead, career, popularity, relationships, wealth, sculpted body, hobbies, possessions, sex, that you look to, to fill the emptiness.

We all experience some sort of longing, an emptiness. We all feel some void in our soul. And we look to satisfy that longing and fill that void with all sorts of things, some I just mentioned. Be honest, none of the worldly things we seek after completely fill the longing and emptiness. We experience temporary satisfaction, but never lasting. And if a little bit does not help, maybe more and more will. Again, only temporary, never lasting. We try to fill our baskets with all kinds of goodies. Goodies never provide lasting satisfaction to our hungering and thirsting. But God’s goodness does. What is goodness? It is love in action. And through His actions, God shows us goodness. We find these words in Psalm 107:9 – “For He satisfies the longing soul, And fills the hungry soul with goodness (NKJV).”

I believe that God made each one of us, wonderfully made I might add (Psalm 139:14), with a hole in our soul that only he can fill. He desperately desires to be in relationship with you and with me. That relationship however is severed by sin and can only be rightly restored through God’s Son, Jesus. Romans 3:23-24 tells us “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, being justified as a gift by His grace through the redemption which is in Christ Jesus.”

Looking for satisfaction outside of God only leads to dissatisfaction, and ultimately more emptiness. Whereas, filling that empty place in your soul with Jesus always brings the “richest of fares.” Putting your trust in Jesus and spending unhurried time with him will satisfy you like nothing else ever will. Always. Every time. We find these words in Isaiah – “Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labor on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David” (55:1-3).

Is your basket empty? If you say it is filled, is it full of the right things? Do you fill it with the world’s goodies or with God’s goodness? The former will always leave us eventually feeling empty, whereas the latter, always a lasting “fat and happy” contentment!

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You have probably heard the saying, “garbage in, garbage out.” We all are products of our environments, and it is true that what goes in also eventually also comes out. A good illustration of that truth is the hydrangea flowering plant.

As with all plants, hydrangeas need the proper soil conditions along with the right balance of sunlight, shade, and water to grow and bloom. Unlike most other flowers, the hydrangea is unique in that it is a litmus test for soil conditions. Just as our genetic makeup determines the color of our hair and our eyes, the pigment of the flowers of most plants is based upon the hereditary genome of the plant, or in other words, its genetic makeup. The color of the flowers of the hydrangea is determined not so much by genetics, but rather, by the soil conditions. The color of the flower is based upon the plant’s cultivar (variety) and soil pH. In most cases, acidic (low pH) soil will produce blue flowers, neutral soil will produce purple flowers, and alkaline (high pH) soil will produce pink flowers.

So, for hydrangeas, it is true that “what goes in does comes out” in the color of the blooms. Horticulturists and amateur gardeners alike can determine the condition of the soil just by looking at the color of the hydrangea flowers.

Just like the hydrangea, the condition of our souls can also be determined by the color of our flowers. Along with regular exercise and sleep, what we eat and drink and ingest into our bodies affects our weight and physical health. And while keeping ourselves physically healthy is very important, keeping our souls healthy is just as important. John the apostle, in the opening words of 3 John, penned this to his friend Gaius – “Beloved, I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health, just as your soul prospers.” (1:2).

Our souls need constant care, and the condition of our soul is determined by just about everything going on in us and around us. God cares about the condition of your soul, and it is God who can help change the condition of your soul (soil). We find this invitation to the thirsty in Isaiah 55 – “Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live; and I will make with you an everlasting covenant, my steadfast, sure love for David” (v.3). To read in context, Isaiah 55.

Scripture gives us a list of the colors of the flowers that come from healthy soil. Those colors are found in Ephesians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” Not only will your flowers be beautiful by having healthy souls, but having a healthy soul will help you have a healthier body and live a healthier life.    

What we eat, drink, watch, read, believe, say and do, really does affect the condition of our souls, and thus, the color of our flowers. I encourage you to look at your lifestyle and your relationship with God, and then look in the mirror at the color of your blooms, and ask yourself, “Do I like what I see?” If not, begin changing your soil condition and watch the color of your flowers change too.

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Do you ever feel as if your every move is being watched? As a kid, no matter how hard I tried to sneak around, my parents always seemed to have “eyes in the back of their heads.”

J. Edgar Hoover, the longtime Director of the FBI, is well known to have compiled confidential files on a great many Americans, much of which exceeded the jurisdiction of the FBI. For those in Hoover’s crosshairs, every move was surveilled and recorded, often to be used as blackmail.

I am told by people wiser than me that there were certain things my group of friends and I did in college that were not always the smartest things to do. I question that interpretation but let’s assume it is somewhat correct. Those days were long before cell phones, the growth of surveillance and tracking devices, doorbell cams, and social platforms, so, I say, show me the evidence. But, today, “What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas” no longer stays in Vegas. It is now able to be viewed by millions of people, often as it is still in progress. Bought anything online lately? Every purchase is surveilled there as well.

Many people feel like every move they make is scrutinized. I once worked for a company where the boss seemed to know how many times that I left my desk or went to the bathroom. I believe that most people like to feel as if they are seen, but not to the point where they have no privacy. My wife and I enjoy spending time with each other but we also at certain times just need our own space, not having our every move monitored and inspected. None of us likes to be watched every minute of every day. We like some level of privacy. Usually when someone is under constant surveillance it is not for their benefit, but rather, for the purpose of catching them in some act; to be able to them say “Aha, I caught you!”

We have a God who watches over us every minute of every day, constant surveillance if you will, not to “catch us,” but instead, to help us. We are never out of His sight. He keeps a watchful eye on us to guide us, protect us, correct us, all done in the name of love.

Psalm 139 is a beautiful reminder of God’s perfect knowledge of every man, woman and child. It begins with these words – “You have searched me, LORD, and know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely. You hem me in behind and before, you lay your hand upon me” (vv.1-5).

The psalm goes on to tell us that God created us and knitted us in our mother’s womb. He knew us and was with us even before we were born, and that today, wherever we are, He is. David, the writer of this psalm, pleads with God to never leave him. He ends the psalm with these words – “Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”

So, today, in a world of constant and often invasive surveillance, be thankful that we have a God, a Loving Father, who knows your every move, your every struggle, your every need, and who says to you – where you are, I am also, lean on me, listen to me, trust in Me!

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