Lessons From Orange

The sun erupted into the sky this morning in a brilliant Orange, the same color of monk robes.  Wispy pink clouds surrounding it were reminiscent of lotus blossoms floating in a pool of blue.  A weak breeze contributed to the morning coolness, but I could tell the cool wouldn’t last long.  Rain clouds usually come from behind the mountains, but at that moment if there were any clouds, they were hiding themselves very well.

But the Orange demanded my attention.  I once had the opportunity to ask a monk why monk robes are orange.  In a strained yet deliberate English he replied, “Our robes are the same colors as the leaves as they fall from the trees.  They remind us that like the falling leaves, life is not permanent.”  Seeing the Orange of the sun reminded me too of the leaves that fall… life is indeed impermanent, we cannot hold on expecting it to last forever in just the way we want it.  Peter recalled Isaiah’s words this way: “All men are like grass, and all their glory is like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall” – like the grass, we too can wither and fall.  But thankfully there is more: “The word of the Lord stands forever.”  The faithfulness of God, the word of God, the love of God is as constant as the sun’s rising and setting, and even more so, for Jesus told us, “heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away.”

Lesson from Orange:  life is indeed impermanent, leaves fall, things change, the unexpected may take us by surprise.  And yet, God is our constant—He is the reliable and eternal One who holds us in His hands.

1 Peter 1:24-25 (Isaiah 40:8); Mark 13:30