My Favorite Color

Spiritually, there has always been something powerful about color for me.

Even as a child, I was aware of it. I loved a fresh box of Crayola crayons in the fall when school started-the smell of them, the way all the colors sat together in one box. When people asked me, “What’s your favorite color?” I could never choose just one.

All of them.

Each color carried a different feeling or emotion, and I loved every single one. I wanted to use all the colors in the box. Even as I got older, I would still grab a coloring book during certain seasons of my life and just color. There was movement in it. Creativity. A quiet kind of peace.

When my daughter was in late elementary school, I began to notice something that troubled me. She had been part of the same great group of friends for years. In the beginning, they all played together easily loving and embracing each other.  As they grew older, I watched them start to notice their differences.

One was prettier. One was taller. One was thinner. One was smarter. One was more athletic.

Comparison quietly crept in.

I realized, I was watching the beginning of separation-not just from each other, but from themselves. This is where comparison begins. Where we wish we were something we’re not. Where we lose joy chasing a version of ourselves that was never meant to exist.

As I sat coloring one day, I talked to God.

How do I teach my daughter not to compare herself to others?
I did that my whole life, and it robbed me of so much time, energy, and joy- life.

A vision rose up in me.

I bought a large tower of Crayola crayons-one hundred different colors. When the girls came over, I would asked them a simple question.

“If you were a color, which one would you be?”

I watched them hesitate. Some glanced at each other, wondering what the others might choose. Eventually, each girl chose a color-and every single one chose something different.

We talked about the meaning of color.

Red carries passion and strength.
Orange holds creativity and emotional energy.
Yellow brings clarity, joy, and brightness.
Green reflects growth, healing, and grounding.
Blue carries peace, trust, and communication.
Purple represents imagination and spirituality.

Then I asked them, “Why would you ever want to be red if you’re blue? Why would you want to be green if you’re purple?”

Each color brings something essential to the world.

I asked them to take some time and notice their color in the world-where they saw it and how it made them feel. Notice the value this color is bringing to the world and what the world would be in the absence of their color.

  A world with only one color would be flat and lifeless. It is the diversity of color that makes the world beautiful.

My daughter came home later and said, “Mom, I’m like a sunflower.” My daughter found herself.  She is absolutely a bright yellow sunflower in this world. Her light is a bright yellow sunflower, always turning toward the light even after dark days. Her spirit carries warmth and hope, reminding others that joy and growth are always possible in every single situation. Like the sunflower, she follows the Divine Light, she seeks what is good and life-giving. And just as the sunflower produces seeds that nourish others, her very presence brings encouragement, strength, and sustenance to the people around her. Even after storms, Wren stands tall, reaching for the light and giving life to those who need it. 

Later, I felt God invite me to give them each a kaleidoscope.

“There is usually one color that stands out,” I told them, “but every time you turn it, the colors shift.”

I believe God is the source of all life (energy), and each of us carries a piece of that divine creativity. We are made of every color within us but one may shine brighter. And with each creation the color the energy coming forth shifts.

This taught me something deeply personal.

I no longer want to be anyone else. I have and continue to embrace the human I am.
I only want to be the fullest expression of who I was created to be.

Comparison dims our color.
Fear hides it.
But love allows it to shine.

Sometimes your favorite color is simply your soul recognizing itself.

Find it.
Love it.
Share it with the world.

Rebecca Dawn