Thursday, June 13, 2013

A world of color

June 13th, 2013 - part 2

Wanted to explain why all the pictures of flowers I've been taken. My grandfather, Myron Willis Gross, loved to grow flowers- his front and back yard was always so beautiful and a place I liked to be. He shared that love with his 2 daughters (one of them my mom). I remember them all raising Chrysanthemums and entering them at flower shows in Seattle. My favorite mum is the pale green spider mum- I had them at my wedding!

Rhododendrons are the state flower of Washington State, which is where I grew up, so they were everywhere!!! My pictures from my walk today had other flowers I love also. I will post a poem I wrote about color and why I believe we need color in our lives.



A World of Color

After looking at black and white photos of Dad,
A little boy asked, “Was there color Dad when you were a lad?
Was everything in life just black and white?
Or was there color in the things and folks in your life?

When God created this beautiful earth for us
He gave it a rainbow of lovely colors so bright.
There’s blue sky, brown earth, and lush green grass,
Red and pink flowers and an orange and yellow sunset.

Each color that God gave has come to have a value.
Something that will help us become more like Him.
It seems that it takes all of the colors to make white,
And white means we are becoming more like God.

Red is for courage that shows us our individual worth.
So many have shed their blood on battle grounds,
That we might have the freedom of choice in our lives.
Christ’s blood was shed to pay for our sins, large and small.

Yellow is for service, we also call that good works.
We become the Savior’s hands as we help those in need.
A smile, a hand to the down-trodden, a shoulder to cry on.
Rolling up our sleeves to help a job get done all will help.

Blue stands for justice and also our divine nature.
As children of God we also believe in His mercy.
We must be accountable for our actions as His Children.
But He sent His Son so we could learn to live like Him.

Green stands for knowledge, learning and growing.
Knowledge is more than a diploma or a degree.
We should learn something every day we are in this life.
We should also feed body and spirit as we need both
 

Purple is known as the color of nobility and integrity.
We are all of royal birth-God is our Father.
He wants each of us to make the choices that help us
So that we can return and live with Him forever.

Orange is a vibrant color that stands for accountability.
Freedom of choice, be it good or bad, is why we came to earth.
Orange also represents fire which can also depict holiness and the Lord.
We need the fire of the Gospel to burn brightly within us as we choose.

Gold is the color of value and virtue regarding our soul.
As a child of God we are each worth far more than gold.
We need to value our body and our life in all that we do.
To be virtuous is to choose ideals that will purify our life.

Black is the absence of color and can be deceiving in appearance.
It is often synonymous with Satan’s opposite plan and path.
There is never lasting happiness when he guides our choices.
Heavenly Father stands ready to help us fight our temptations and trials.

The blind may not have a choice about the color they don’t see,
But we must each choose to have color in our daily lives.
We need to incorporate their values into each hour of each day.
We then will become pure and worthy to return to our Father.


Dedicated to Jeff Stuart

Charlotte P. Edwards- May, 2011


 
A beautiful deep lavender lilac bush

a bright yellow azalia that brightens a cloudy, rainy day

This red Rhododendron  grows on the temple grounds, that's our apartment building you see in the background

This white Rhododendron was my prettiest find from earlier this week.  



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