What Color Are You?
How do you think people around the world might respond if you were to ask that question? You might get such answers as black, white, red, brown, or yellow. These answers would all show that people largely see color as determined by skin pigment.
Within this frame of reference, we may believe that our color works against us or in our favor, depending on where we live in the world. But I have learned there is something much deeper to color than physical skin tone.
An experience I had at work set me on a journey in which I probed more deeply what color means-from a spiritual point of view rather than a physical one. I had joined a new company in a new city. And I began to encounter treatment in the office that made me feel isolated and discouraged. I came to realize that I had been the victim of stereotyping, involving the view that I was less intelligent because of my race. As I continued my spiritual research of what true color is, I found help and healing.
A dictionary gave me one definition of color as "character or nature" (often involving a plural usage, as in the expression "your true colors"). Going further, I asked myself, "Where does my character or nature originate?" And I traced my identity back to God, our creator, who the Bible says in the first chapter of Genesis created us in His image, spiritual and perfect. This adventure led me to the book of Matthew, where Christ Jesus spoke of God in the first two lines of the Lord's Prayer: "Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name" (6:9). God is our real Father; heaven is not a physical place but refers to God's complete and harmonious government of man and the universe, here and now. Hallowed means "holy," and God's name, His nature or color, is spiritual and holy. Our color is holy also, because we reflect Him. This color is not physical. It was promising for me to realize that every child of God has a rich, individual hue. Each is spiritual, an individual expression of Spirit-of God.
At that point in my life, I knew I needed to do even more to understand my real, spiritual identity. And I knew I could follow the teaching of Jesus in this search. The laws of God that gave truth and power to Jesus' words and works were named by Mary Baker Eddy, who discovered them, Christian Science. In the textbook of Christian Science she wrote, "The divine nature was best expressed in Christ Jesus, who threw upon mortals the truer reflection of God and lifted their lives higher than their poor thought-models would allow,-thoughts which presented man as fallen, sick, sinning, and dying" (Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, p. 259).
This "divine nature" or color that Christ Jesus expressed is the true idea of God. Recognizing a good, perfect nature as the only identity of anyone enabled Jesus to heal afflictions such as blindness, deafness, insanity, and leprosy. It allowed him to feed multitudes. He demonstrated that whatever is discordant needs to be healed, and that this healing happens in human thought, where an incorrect view of our identity takes shape. The prayer in which we learn and practice the teaching of Jesus corrects the mistaken views of ourselves that bring feelings of inferiority, as well as of superiority. The daily practice of expressing God's colorful, good qualities-such as intelligence, health, unselfishness, love, mercy, dignity, joy, and freedom-reveals an equal inheritance of worth for all.
Thinking in this way brought much healing to my office experience. My prayer constantly supplied me with ideas to help me. It also became evident that I needed to express a more spiritual love for myself, my office neighbors, and the world. I made a deeper, more consistent commitment to pray to understand that God is Love, ever present, that everyone in the office possessed spiritual intelligence from Him, and that everyone reflected His qualities.
My prayer was answered. We began sharing ideas with each other, and people began expressing more compassion, harmony, fairness, friendliness, and respect toward me. I have since moved into a new industry, and my career continues to progress. I am blessed by the spiritual understanding I gained in that experience.
Anyone can learn of, live, and love his or her true color as the beloved of God. Love is our eternal parentage.
