this spring, as the white ice and brown barrenness of winter gave way to the green mist of growing grass and budding trees, I was reminded of the Rich Mullins song, “The Color Green”. It is quite possibly my favorite song of the many he wrote. My friend Peggy introduced me to it when she and our friend Heidi and I were driving back from a wonderful weekend in Stehekin Valley, WA in May of 2005. I can still picture driving on Highway 2 over Stevens Pass and down into Gold Bar, listening to this song absolutely blow me away with its beauty.
and now, every spring, I think about how much I love the color green. it’s something so simple – the blue sky and the green grass and leaves, but it reminds me so poignantly of new life, a fresh start and the kind, steadfast love of a God that never changes. I love the phrase, “winter unfrozen and free to run away now” – can’t you just picture the snow melting and running off into a field that bursts into sprigs of green shooting forth from the soil?
then there is the music – a lilting, Irish motif with incredible joyful spirit and verve. You can’t help but smile as the penny whistle rips through a trill and the orchestra swells with the melody of the color green. It makes me think of the part in the book by C.S. Lewis, “The Magician’s Nephew”, when Aslan creates the world and everything has a song. I think the color green has this melody. This is the music of spring.
I praise the Lord for all his tenderness to this work of His hands – I thank Him for the color green!
And the moon is a sliver of silver
Like a shaving that fell on the floor of a Carpenter’s shop
And every house must have it’s builder
And I awoke in the house of God
Where the windows are mornings and evenings
Stretched from the sun
Across the sky north to south
And on my way to early meeting
I heard the rocks crying out
I heard the rocks crying outBe praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praiseAnd the wrens have returned and they’re nesting
In the hollow of that oak where his heart once had been
And he lifts up his arms in a blessing for being born again
And the streams are all swollen with winter
Winter unfrozen and free to run away now
And I’m amazed when I remember
Who it was that built this house
And with the rocks I cry outBe praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color greenBe praised for all Your tenderness by these works of Your hands
Suns that rise and rains that fall to bless and bring to life Your land
Look down upon this winter wheat and be glad that You have made
Blue for the sky and the color green that fills these fields with praise
jomegs: a little slice of my life 