“Choose Your Color!” 2 Samuel 1:17-27 Key verse(s) 27a:“How the mighty have fallen!”
What is the color of your life? It is interesting that when asked this question most people choose some neutral or dark shade. Very few people actually choose a bright color. That’s because, on the whole, it is the negative things in life that quite often determine the color of our day. You can have a pretty good day going. Breakfast was good and you made it to work on time. In fact you had a few moments to spare when you parked your car. Traffic on the way was pretty typical; no accidents to tie things up. Sure, there were the usual slow-down’s. But, all-in-all, it wasn’t a bad commute. The morning’s tasks on your “to-do” list were pretty much accomplished in good order and, before you knew it, lunchtime had arrived even before you expected it. But then, right after lunch, there was that one bad thing that happened. Maybe it was a cranky phone call or a boss with a momentary attitude. That little minute-and-a-half event, less than .03% of your entire work day, may now have become the “color” of your day. What may have been a bright yellow day can easily become a deep blue one without so much as even a little effort on our part. It just happens––or does it?
I remember reading recently about a soldier who stepped on a land mine in Afghanistan. The soldier lost his left leg in the explosion. He spent months in a German hospital and then returned home to the United States. Over the course of the next few days he journeyed homeward via military aircraft to his small hometown in western Colorado. When he arrived at the airport he was greeted by his family and tears and smiles were exchanged. Finally several reporters from area newspapers converged on the reunion scene. One of them asked the young soldier how it felt to lose his leg. The soldier smiled and looked the reporter straight in the eye. “Mister, I didn’t lose a leg––I gave one!”
How we view life is a matter of what we want to see, not what we merely see. That young soldier chose a bright color because he knew that he would spend the rest of his life without his left leg. He would wake up every morning and know it. He
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