An array of colors opened like a new box of crayons before me this morning. Birds were being served at the feeders while Tom and I breakfasted on our deck. Bright and muted reds mingled with the yellows and iridescent blues; even the large wild turkey, nibbling on the ground kernels, was multi-shaded in browns and gold.

Suddenly, I was home-sick for “heart” color–real color.

I am often asked, “What is the one thing you miss since returning from Europe?”

Color! I answer quickly with that one word.

The trams, the trains, the buses–crowded with the colors of the world. The cultures of the world streamed through the opened doors of public transportation endlessly. Listening, I heard. I began to understand God’s heart for the world; riding on the trains and buses provided ample time and purpose for “prayer-riding”.

Loving and living ten years in the multicolored communities of Vienna, Austria, and Copenhagen, Denmark, transformed my previous world set in the hills of east Tennessee. I hugged color, laughed with color, prayed with color; often our dinner table was surrounded in beautiful mosaics. An amazing richness is gained as one is saturated in the various hues of the world.

I remember singing these words the first Sunday at our church in Vienna almost 14 years ago:

Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah to the Lamb,
Hallelujah, hallelujah by the blood of Christ we stand.
Every tongue, every tribe, every people, every land
Giving glory, giving honor, giving praise unto the Lamb of God.

Hands— colored brown, red, black and white–clasped together, making a colorful display around the small sanctuary as praise rang out in a blessed benediction. Even through my tears that circle was a picture of the world. How beautiful heaven will be!

The colors at my bird feeders make me smile and rejoice in the God who designed them, but I joy more in the peoples of the world, the hearts and minds of those who colored my world for too brief a time. The vividness of their lives will forever color my journey.

Embrace color — today.