Can You Bring It Back To God?

Ask any woman and she will tell you.
You do not wear white before Memorial Day.
You do not wear white after Labor Day.
There are always the rebels who will wear white any time they choose.

However, those holidays are the benchmark.
Those holidays are the markers.
They are seasonal fashion police.
They keep us from making a fashion faux pas.

Does it really matter?
Not in the scheme of things.
It is something that gets passed down from mother to daughter.
It is the way of things.

I never minded my mother’s insistence.
It was always exciting to get new white patent leather shoes and finally wear them in late May.
I always liked getting that first scuff mark.
Until then, they didn’t feel broken in enough.

I was driving on some back country roads and found myself pondering color.
I noticed the changing fall landscape.
I saw the cornstalks that were tall, brown, and ready for harvest.
I saw the little roadside markets with pumpkins, gourds, and festive mums.

There was not a speck of white in sight.
I saw the colors of fall: orange, brown, yellow, red, purple, and hunter green.
It was an autumn palette to be sure.
These are the months that make me feel so alive.

I often wondered why, when everything is dying, I feel the most alive?
When everything is ready for harvest, I am ready to get cozy in my home in front of the fire.
When the fields are bare, I buy pieces of the harvest to use as fall decorating.
When the temperatures go down, my spirits go up.

No one understands people like me.
I like cold weather.
I like to read a book under a blanket in front of the fire.
I like to walk in the morning and feel the brisk air all around me.

When I noticed the fall colors, I thought of how much I enjoy the fall palette.
I thought of the clothes I pull out to wear.
Gone are the pastels and the summer prints.
Instead, I pull out russet, brown, purple, and green.

God dictates fashion.
I actually spoke that note to Siri while at a traffic light.
I thought about that all the way home.
It brought me back years ago to when I taught Sunday school.

I taught third through fifth grade at the time.
I had one little boy who loved to draw.
He tested his limits one Sunday and constantly drew pictures throughout the whole class.
I called his name.

I could see the look on his face.
I’m going to get in trouble, was clearly seen in his eyes and his demeanor.
I see you’re drawing, I said as I watched his eyes look down at his paper.
Some sort of superhero was being sketched.

I have a proposition for you, I said.
He gave me an incredulous look.
I will allow you to draw during Sunday school if you only draw what I am teaching.
You will be the chronicler of our Sunday school class, I proposed.

The look of relief and sheer delight was all over his face.
I can do that, he said excitedly.
And he did.
I was so incredibly glad he did.

He chronicled each class.
I particularly remember one drawing he did.
How I wish I still had that picture.
I thought I tucked it inside a book I used at the time, but when I looked it was not there.

The lesson was from chapter 7 of Matthew’s gospel.
You hypocrite, first take the plank our of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eyes. (Matthew 7:5)

This young boy drew what he called, Log Eye.
It was a personified log with big eyes and long fingers that were constantly pointing.
He wore oversized sneakers on short, stubby legs.
It was wonderful.

Everyone loved it.
It helped the children to see what we look like when we are always finding fault.
It helped us all to see the absurdity of long pointed fingers and big bulging eyes.
It captured the lesson perfectly.

I asked him to sign the bottom of his picture.
He signed it with finesse.
He gave it to me proudly.
What could have been seen as a distraction instead enhanced our Sunday school lesson.

That same class had another boy who was always questioning.
Mrs. Gallagher, can you bring everything back to God?
I sure can! I said excitedly.
I could see his mind working, trying to trick me.

How about candy; does candy come from God? He asked thinking he got me.
Candy has sugar in it and sugar comes from sugar cane or sugar beets, I began.
The sugar comes from a process known as photosynthesis.
Juice is taken from the sugar beet or cane; impurities are removed; it crystallizes into sugar.

God made the farmer who planted the sugar beet or cane.
God, in His wisdom, developed the process of photosynthesis.
God equipped the farmer with the intelligence to extract the juice from the plant.
God gave the confectioner the talent to make the candy we enjoy.

I remember every eye was looking at me with full attention.
So God made candy, the questioner declared.
Candy is a gift from God because God’s hand is in the entire process of making it.
I could imagine the dinner conversation that night as the children talked about the lesson.

Every good and perfect gift is from above. (James 1:17)

God is in the entire process.
God is in everything.
We cannot compartmentalize our life, keeping God out of certain areas.
You can have Sundays, God, but the rest of the week belongs to me.

You can have prayers before meals, God, but I don’t need to talk to You at other times.
You can know everything I do, except for the things I don’t want You to know.
It doesn‘t work that way.
I wanted the children to see that; I wanted to remind myself of that truth.

God is in everything.
Every blade of grass, every harvest, and every whisper.
So God dictates fashion, my original thought, was not that far off.
God set the seasons in place with all of the glorious colors.

God did indeed dictate the fall palette of colors.
I am so grateful that He did.
See if you can bring everything back to God.
It really is not that difficult to do.

You will have a greater awareness of His presence in the smallest thing.
You will see His hand in everything.
You will marvel at His attention to detail.
You will grow to be more thankful for the imprint He leaves everywhere.

Praise God from whom all blessings flow.

2 responses to “Can You Bring It Back To God?”

1. I love this! Being creative is such a gift, because we notice EVERYTHING! God’s handiwork is everywhere if we just look. He is the source of every thing in the universe and all things truly go back to Him. Artist Georgia O’Keefe once said that she painted flowers very large so people would notice them. We see Him in the smallest flower and in the vast sky and clouds. Let us praise You Lord!

   Reply

   • Sue,
     It is wonderful to look for God in the smallest things. Finding Him there makes our days more amazing and more joy-filled.
     Gina

     Reply