Red

Today had its own theme color.

This morning I woke up, took a shower and put on red earrings, red shoes and a red belt. It was my day off, so instead of going to work I went off to get my hair cut and colored. For several months now, I've been thinking of taking the leap and dying my hair. I've never had it colored before...

But today was the day.

I went red, deep red. My stylist gave me a shade darker than my original color with a few hints of violet. And I think it turned out splendidly.

But the day didn't end there. Next I went to the Red Cross for my blood donation appointment. Allow me to stand on a soapbox for a moment and encourage you all to donate blood at least once in your life, because the donation itself only takes about five minutes, and I am only a pint lighter and no worse for the wear at the end of that five minutes.

All of these occurrences of red throughout the day were fitting, I thought. Red is a fine color, and a wonderfully symbolic one, at that. Red stands for blood, for bravery, for all things brash and bold.

And what better act of bold bravery could it be than laying down one's life for a friend? Jesus, one who knew no sin, shed his blood willingly on a cross to atone for our sins. He gave his innocent blood in order to purify our tainted blood.

You could say it was the best blood donation ever given.

Even more so, his blood covers us... it washes over our blemishes and makes them clean.

Let me tell you something about my hair. I'm in my mid-twenties, but I'm already starting to find little white hairs on my scalp. But sometimes they are not all white! Some of them start out white on the ends, but closer to the root, they start growing in brown again. Sure, all hair is just dead skin cells, but white hair just looks more dead than the rest. It is a sign of age - a sign of being one step closer to death. But when white hair suddenly starts growing in with color again, it's as if new life has been brought to it.

Even so, my natural hair still had the odd strand of white in it. But with this new color, this RED color, even the white has been completely transformed. What was once dead has been made alive

It's kind of like the process of Jesus' blood sanctifying us and making us new creatures. Sure, we still might have the sinful nature, but it is transformed into HIS nature.

I was dead in my tresspasses and sins, and he made me alive again. Where I once showed the telltale signs of death, he covered me in his blood, making me like him.

This brings me to the Bible passage of the day: Ephesians 2.

And you were dead in your trespasses and sins, in which you formerly walked according to the course of this world  ...  God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ.