A Meditation on Yellow

(This might go easier with a certain Coldplay song in the background)

            It might be hard to see or understand or imagine at this time of year, but there really is such a thing as “good yellow”.

·         When we’re in a silly mood, that’s how we sometimes answer the phone. “Yell-O”.

·         There’s the lemon wedge in a glass of sweet tea, a sign of our hospitality and the refreshment we offer each other.

·         Smiley faces are yellow, too.  So, have a nice day.

·         They make yellow golf balls, and they’re supposed to be easy to find.  I know firsthand they float just as well as the white ones.

·         Daffodils are yellow.  Dandelions are, too.  It pays to know the difference, but nothing tickles me more than watching toddlers pick yellow dandelion blossoms to present to their parents.  They accept that handful of weeds like they were a prom corsage.

·         Yellow roses mean friendship.  That’s good yellow—unless they’re from your boyfriend.

·         Highlighters are yellow.  Some folks mark verses in their Bibles with them.  That’s good, too… unless you’ve highlighted Revelation 9:17, the verse that describes the bad guys wearing red, blue and YELLOW armor.

·         Frosted banana Zingers are yellow—and that’s really good… unless you have a problem with too much sugar or you worry about preservatives—party poopers.

·         The Yellow Pages is filled with plenty of good listings—even if the bail bond companies occupy several of the first lines.

·         The Beatles sang, “We all live in a Yellow Submarine.”  It probably was white when they started.

Even all that yellow pollen out there is good—it is!  Yes, it’s all over our cars, and swirling around in miniature saffron tornadoes.  Yes, we choke on it, and it makes our eyes itch.  BUT it makes the plants grow.  You like peaches, don’t you??

It only takes a tiny amount of pollen for each plant to survive, to make seeds and thus make more plants.  BUT without the pollen, they die.  So, each plant produces what it needs in abundance.  They aren’t waiting around for the law of averages to catch up with them.

What about us?  When we think about what we need to survive—faith, hope and love, namely—do we have enough to get by on?  At first glance, it may look like there is never enough.  Sort of the opposite of how we’re looking at pollen this time of year.  We might find it easy to wonder if there is a shortage of faith, hope and love, but we have good news.  Jesus said, “I have come that they may have life, and have it abundantly.”  Let’s roll around in that surplus!

We can look outside and see an abundance of yellow.  Let’s let it remind us that we can look inside and see the good excess of things Jesus has supplied for us. Ephesians 3:20-21 says,

Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen.