Fortress

Many years ago, I made a funny little commitment with myself to set a color theme for every birthday.  I think I was maybe 14 or 15 years old.  So this is the way it works.  I’d say a prayer for a color to be given to me to focus on for the year.  It would then be my responsibility to discover the symbolic meaning of that particular color.  Usually, the way I would and do find out the color is that … let’s say the color “orange” will end up on gifts, cards, decorations for parties thrown for me etc. etc.  And before you say it, YES, as a general rule I would get bombarded by one particular color or a compatible color scheme. Color makes it’s bold splash upon the canvas of my life and …voila!  A theme is born.

This past year, I got dark blue and pale, golden yellow in a particularly Japanese design.  It showed up on birthday cards, gifts that appeared in the mail and the journal sitting on the table next to me.  This birth year promised to be a very deep, intense and fulfilling year.  One of sunny promises and the intangibility of depth and creative prospects that would be explored with great delight and a strong spiritual drive rooted in wisdom that ultimately PROTECTS.

The last time I got these colors, I was 18 years old.  It was a time of great maturation, rich spiritual insight and fresh, open-eyed wonder which drove me through the next 7 years.  When I got them again this past September, I have to admit I got pretty excited.  I have a penchant for clarity and consider it the greatest gift God can give me.  Clarity gives birth to wisdom and to me there is no higher grace.  Wisdom is the wedding of Knowledge and Love.  It is the lion lying next to the lamb; it’s the rose without thorns; it’s the cow feeding next to a bear and it’s the child playing next to a viper.  That is what wisdom represents to me.

So here I am, with 9 months still to go on that theme.  Already the last 3 months have given birth to much adventure and reflection at the same time.  I’ve been traveling, moving, considering and reconsidering friendships; and generally plunging to the depth of any consideration I have so that we can make the very best decisions possible.  My husband and I have made it part of our daily creed to fight for fullness of communication and understanding in everything we do.  When the people around us begin to sacrifice integrity, we say something.  When things fall through the cracks we catch it.  Thankfully, he’s been right next to me in exerting our wills to fight for people.  Fight for each other.  Protect all that is dear to us.  If we’re not willing to protect, we’ll never be able to fully love.  Protect our hearts and souls God! Protect.