Coloring Outside the Lines

Humans are blessed with a singular creativity to see what might be, in addition to what is. Joy and imagination are often paired.  Mystery author, Carolyn Hart described an artist's work:

"....The brightly colored animal figures--pink giraffes, spotted rhinos, lemon tigers--spoke of a world of unleashed imagination, the artist's ebullient recognition that the pulse of life is more than is ever seen by the eye alone, that the spirit of joy colors every reality." (p. 21)

--from Death on the River Walk, by Carolyn Hart

Remember the simple creations of our childhood when purple chickens, red dogs, and animals with the Biblical coat of many colors reigned supreme.

I remember a story told to me by a student when I was teaching at Sinte Gleska College (now University) in Rosebud, South Dakota.  The woman was in one of my education methods classes and she shared this story about her sons.  She said she had one boy who always colored so neatly within the lines, so she bought him a coloring book whenever she went to the grocery store.  Frequently, however, it was her other son who picked up the books and scribbled all over the pages.  Finally the child who colored neatly told his mother, "I hate to color, please stop buying me those coloring books."  The other son, hearing this, said to his mother, "Give them to me, I love them," and proceeded to joyfully scribble outside the lines throughout the book.

It's hard for some of us to color outside the lines with joyful abandon, but we can try, if just for a day.

"...the spirit of joy colors every reality"

These brightly colored dish towels hanging on the clothes line of our friend, Anne Marie, in Provence illustrate to me that beauty is to be found in the everyday pulse of life.