Filmed in Technicolor

Back in the day when I was a kid and there were still only 3 channels to watch on TV, old movie reruns were the filler most stations would use in-between new episodes of Little House on the Prairie or, if you were lucky enough to get to stay up for it, Charlie’s Angels.  I actually grew to love those old movies!  There were usually big musical numbers, lots of cheesy sets and lots of drama, and each movie almost always closed with a happy ending.  If I was lucky, though, I could watch a movie filmed in Technicolor.  

Technicolor was a unique process that enhanced how a movie was viewed.  Everything was more lush, more vivid and rich.  Greens were greener; blues had a deeper depth than you could find in real life.  Those ruby red slippers in The Wizard of Oz nearly leapt off the screen.  It was almost like watching a living, breathing painting.  Think Gone with the Wind, billed as a Technicolor Spectacle!

Most days, my life is lived in normal color.  It’s vivid and rich, but it’s also real and genuine.  It’s a good life.  Sometimes, though, I find myself squarely inserted into a Technicolor Spectacle.  It can be happy moments, like weddings or graduations, or falling in love.  It can be challenging moments, like funerals, or the diagnosis you didn’t want to hear, or circumstances that feel debilitating.  For whatever reason, life takes on a laser beam focus of intensity, and everything around you seems different, heightened.

I have learned that so much of who I am and who I will be is defined in those Technicolor moments.  How I handle those intense, almost surreal life experiences are part of what directs how I will move on my life’s path.  In the times of overflowing joy, do I remember to stop and mark that moment deep in my heart, expressing gratitude to God for it, cherishing the beauty He has allowed me to experience?   In the times of deep pain, do I remember to stop and recall God’s love and faithfulness to me, and to allow Him to embrace me and hold me through the suffering?

When I struggle, taking out those blessed moments stored deep in my heart remind me I am not alone on my journey.  Those cherished memories remind me that there is joy and beauty beyond the pain I’m currently experiencing; they are a vivid picture of the many ways God has provided for me and will continue to provide and take care of me moving forward.  They remind me that today’s challenging events do not define me, but God’s enduring love for me does.

So when you experience those Technicolor moments in life, remember.  Remember God, remember His many blessings; remember His grace and His profound love for you.  Remember He has a plan for you through all your moments, Technicolor or not, and that His plan is “to prosper you, and not to harm you … to give you a hope and a future,” (Jeremiah 29:11).  In that way, you can experience your own happy ending.   

For Further Thought:  After God declares He knows the good plans He has for us, He then shares, “You will seek Me and find Me when you seek Me with all your heart,” (v. 13).  What is one practical way you can take time to seek God in your Technicolor moments?  In your ordinary moments? 

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