Coloring Class (02/03/2026)

As a non-traditional, 38-year-old, commuting, weekend and evenings student, I was on the “no-nonsense” and “get all I can when I can” track. I had tried so many times to start my degree that when it finally became a real opportunity, I wanted every moment and every class to matter. Then in second semester of my first year, after a full day of work, a mad dash to feed the family, and a drive through rush hour traffic, this professor tells the class that we need to buy colored pencils for his course on the bible because he was going to teach us to glean the most from the passages through coloring.

I was blessed that no officer witnessed my drive home that night at 9:30 p.m., talking to myself the whole way, venting my frustration about being told “to color” in a college level scripture course; he could have easily misunderstood and deemed me either inebriated or hallucinatory.  My rant continued after I arrived home as I described all this to my husband who simply nodded a great deal punctuated by an occasional “give it a shot.” I belligerently bought my colored pencils and started reading the assigned scripture texts, highlighting in colored pencil repetitions of words and presence of themes. And by the end of the first week, I was a fan of this coloring class.

I bought more pencils, a pencil sharpener, and a portable case.  Through that class and the use of those pencils, I not only opened up texts so I could see deeper into them, I learned that I had a skill in spotting themes, trends, and tone. That class changed the way I see into texts, any texts, and even the way I see into life. Who could have guessed how transformative a coloring class could be?

Life can be like that sometimes, don’t you find? We’re asked to do something that at the outset we don’t see the value of only to find in the midst of the doing that there is hidden value we’d never have guessed. Through this experience nearly 40 years ago, I learned to be more open to and cooperative with the God-given graces that come to me uninvited and that sometimes, okay, a lot of the time, that’s how grace comes.

I’ve realized that I have a plan and so does the LORD and our plans don’t always agree. I’ve learned to be open to the unexpected, to be present to the potential within a moment especially when that potential is embodied in another person. I’ve learned to unpack and ponder and probe my moments, quarrying for all the lesson within them. Who knew coloring could teach so much?

As we continue our journeys of faith, hope, and love, let us commit to being open to God-given graces we didn’t order up in our prayers but the LORD sends anyway. Let us recognize that at times those graces come embodied in the presence and gifts of another. Let us pray for the guidance of the Holy Spirit in our journey and let us promise not to try to restrict the Spirit’s ability to transform us through unconventional methods.

Until tomorrow, love well.