The Special Colors of the Christian Year

What's your religious persuasion? If you have a faith relationship with Jesus Christ, do you pick any of these colors as you make your paper crafting color choices during these Holy seasons?

Here's a list of the colors most commonly used during these seasons and what they represent:

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Colors for Advent: Purple or blue; purple symbolizes both penitence and royalty; blue is the color of hope.

In stained glass windows, blue is symbolic of spiritual love, constancy and fidelity, so it is no surprise that Mary, the mother of Jesus, is usually shown wearing a blue cloak.

Blue is the color of God's glory and it is said to ward off the evil eye and to protect the white purity of holiness within.

Christmas Season & Day of Epiphany: White and gold because they are joyous, festive colors.

In stained glass windows, Mary's robe is white, the color of purity, and she is frequently shown with a vase of white lilies. The three kings wear royal colors of red, gold, and purple.

Season after the Epiphany: First and last Sunday's white; other Sunday's green represents growth, a mark of honor, or the color of repentance.

Lent: Purple, a royal color that also signifies penitence and preparation.

Ash Wednesday: Gray or other dark earth tones are especially appropriate as are rough textures such a burlap or linen to suggest sack cloth and ashes. Purple, the Lenten color may be used.

Holy Week: Purple, the Lenten color may be used, or red may be used to symbolize the blood of Christ.

In stained glass windows, red may be the symbol of blood and suffering.

Easter: White and gold are joyous and festive colors to use at Easter season.

In stained glass windows, yellow or gold is symbolic of the sun, and hence the Son of God, however it can also represent deceit, jealousy, cowardice or treason.

Pentecost: Red or red on white. Red, the color of fire, represents the Holy Spirit.

Season after Pentecost: The basic color is green symbolizing growth in Christ. White is used on Trinity Sunday, All Saints Day, and Christ the King Sunday. Red may be used on civic holidays.

In stained glass windows, green is a symbol of hope.

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Bibliography:

1.) The Special Days and Seasons of the Christian Year. By Pat Floyd.
2.) Gospels in Glass: Stained Glass Windows in Missouri Churches. By Ken Luebbering & Robyn Burnett. 2000. 

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8/5/2019 Update: Wordless Gospel Book (or Pony Bead Bracelet) Color Meanings. 

My paternal grandmother, a primary Sunday School teacher, once showed me a book made of construction paper, she had made to tell her students the gospel story. She cut the construction paper in half widthwise and then stapled it together in this order.

1. Navy (Dark Heart) = Sin - Romans 3:23 - Everyone sins

2. Red - Blood - 1 John 1:7, 9 - Jesus' blood covers our sins and

3. White - (Pure Heart) - Psalm 51:7 - Washes away our confessed sin

4.  Yellow - Heaven - John 14:2 - Believe on Jesus and receive eternal life

5. Green - Grow - 2 Peter 3:18 - grow in the knowledge of the Lord.

10/22/2019 Update: Here's an article on color coding your Bible! 

2/10/2022 Update: If you go to summer camp-meeting, be sure to wear blue, green, purple, and/or white as mosquitos aren't as attracted to those colors as they are to red and black. 

God Richly Provides

Stampin’ Sisters in Christ Challenge, #75, Hebrews 13:5

I looked up the word “satisfaction” in my computer thesaurus. The definition of the word means contentment and compensation. In this world, it’s really hard to be satisfied with what God provides sometimes, especially when we are surrounded by advertisements, wooing one to buy more that often offer empty promises that bite. Jealousy and bitterness are thieves of happiness and they poison our hearts against others and God.

A few years ago, I was at the heart of a squabble about using expired company stamps for publication at Scrap & Stamp Arts magazine. By necessity, I’ve had to learn to be content with purchasing my art/crafts supplies at bargain prices, such as on clearance or using a coupon at craft stores, at salvage and thrift stores (see card, I purchased the Anna Griffin stamp for $1.00), at discount stores (the Stampcraft sentiment came from Walmart), garage sales, as gifts and second-hand sales long after they were the in-thing. I didn’t get my Cuddlebug until last year when my sweet husband purchased it on ebay for me. My husband tells me that in turn, my frugality or thriftiness, has made me more creative. You know the saying, necessity is the mother of invention?

I will admit I drool when I see those whole rooms dedicated to the arts and crafts too, but I have to remind myself that the corner of the kitchen in the cottage house that God provided miraculously for us is enough at the moment (although I have two Christian friends here who have taken up praying for a studio/shed for me. LOL!). 

And because of my habit of looking for bargains wherever I go, at a Goodwill store sometime ago, I saw a brand-new, unopened Cricut font cartridge package for $4.00. That store didn’t know what they had. I didn’t own a die-cutting machine at that time, but decided to purchase it anyway. I figured I could resell it at a later date or I’d have a nice gift for a friend should one of them decide to purchase the machine. Not long after that, a friend at church, our pastor’s mother-in-law, purchased a Cricut for scrapbooking. She was gifted with the font cartridge (which worked perfectly, by the way) and it has been well used, not only for her and her daughters’ scrapbooks, but to uplift all who enter our church. (see photo). God has provided a real circle of blessing!

Actions Speak Louder than Words

This is my card for Stampin' Sisters of Christ Challenge 75, 1 John 3:18 this week. It's been a good discipline for me to design cards around a scripture. Thank you SSC for offering it.

Stamps:
Unknown heart
Stampcraft (440524) Cross
Hero Arts (A1959) Mini Background Shadow Stamp

When I was thinking of how to illustrate a love card without a sentiment, my husband reminded me that the greatest “love in action” was what Jesus did for each of us -- he died on the cross to save us from our sins

Never Alone

Supplies:

Shepherd/Sheep = Highlander Celtic Stamp H-271

Harlequin Diamond Shadow Stamp = Hero Arts D3415 Single Harlequin

Sentiment = Inkadinkado 8825M

Last spring (13 May 2010), I fell in my backyard and broke a disc in my lower back between the 4th and 5th vertebra. It was after the last snow of the season, the ground was soggy from the melt-off and my doggie was being disobedient. Since I was not thrilled with her disobedience, envisioning a muddy dog, I went after her, stepped into a hole and fell flat on my face.

Nothing prepared me for the pain of a broken disc. I’ve had a child and labor pain is over shortly, but I suffered for several months until I could see a surgeon. Pain of that kind takes over one’s life because one is checking the clock constantly to see when one can take the next dose of painkiller that just took the edge off. Trying to find positions or chairs to sit in that didn’t hurt. Being able to sleep on one side that didn’t hurt. It takes away your ability to think. And yet, God was there with me the whole way.

I forgave my dog for her disobedience and am grateful for Jesus’ example of forgiveness and mercy.

He held my hand when I had to slide into the closed MRI tube (I’m very claustrophic) for 20 minutes with my knees and stomach touching the sides.

He was with me when I was diagnosed also with arthritis in my spine and neck as well as vertigo.

He was with me and helped me get through my fear of having pain shots in my spine twice. When I had to have our son by emergency c-section in 1986, I wouldn’t have the epidural, but insisted they put me totally out because of my fear of a needle in my back.

Never alone, I’ve been learning to live with restrictions, although sometimes I chaff under them. I’m not to garden (no bending over for any length of time) or lifting more than 5 pounds. I’m not to play miniature golf (it’s that back & forth swing that’s out) or sit for more than 20 minutes at a time. I can stand up for less than an hour. I cannot lean back to relax on a sofa anymore and am having to walk with a cane outside or on stairs because I’m still wobbly. Rather than feeling sorry for myself, God has showed me that there are things I can still do, like type and design cards and teach my Sunday School class. And I appreciate the things I can do more because I don’t take them for granted any longer. The Lord is my shepherd . . .

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Devotion: Believe

"He will not forget your work and the love you have shown." ~ Hebrews 6:10

When I was reading Stormie Omartian’s book "The Power of a Praying Woman," I recognized a BIG problem of mine. I am uncertain about my ability to write well on a professional level, to design impressive cards and fear that Jesus won’t show up when I need his help with either of those things. Stormie identified my trouble as lack of faith and trust in God which is sin. Pure and simple.

Thwack! Smack me upside the head! That hit me right between the eyes. And not only do I have a lack of faith, but then my enemy, Satan uses my insecurity about those things to intimidate me into backing off from all God has planned for me. He would thwart and divert me from ever relying on the Lord, thus keeping me enslaved and being an effective witness for Christ.

Prayer: Father, forgive my sin of disbelief and trust in you. Reveal to me what you see in me. Nudge me toward acknowledging that You are the one in control and that You have the power to give me the words to write and good designs for cards. Enable me to be more confident in you. In Jesus' name, Amen!

Today's Quote:

"Let intimidation take the day off." ~ Annie Lockhart.