For the past couple of weeks I have had some good conversations with some of my fellow artists. We have been discussing the color of the sky and space. It’s an important topic for ones such as us. Because of the nature of the conversations some thoughts have made their way up through the pile of my other thoughts, some things that are perhaps worth considering.

     Someone once said, “Saying the world was made by a big bang it like saying, in five seconds I am going to throw the pieces of this precision wristwatch into the air. When the parts hit the ground, they are going to come together all on their own and form a perfectly accurate working timepiece.”  And I believe it was Einstein that said, “Either everything is a miracle, or nothing is.”  I like that one too.

     I believe that the human race, if not reigned in, can become quite arrogant. Thoughtlessness and/or ungratefulness are terrible forms of arrogance. We are, for the most part, simply too busy to be bothered.  I find that, as a teacher, some children are even too busy to use their own brain. They want to use my brain or their friend’s brain. Thinking requires a lot of effort!  “ Think about it?  If I want to know something, I can Google it, no need to think!”

    So many things from every corner of our world that should be thought upon, but yet, so many times we find ourselves bored.  For instance, have you ever considered this? We take for granted that when we thirst, there will be water. I thought of this one day when I jumped in my car after a long walk in the heat. I was so thirsty that I grabbed the water bottle that had been left in the 120 degree car and took a gulp. Yuck! It was not good.  So then I had this thought.  How wonderful is it, that in the mountains, on a scorching hot summer day, the water in the streams is still ice cold?  And isn’t it strange, that as many times as I have jumped into the icy cold of the mountain streams, that it took a gulp of hot water for me to realize the gift of the cold water. It wasn’t that I did not know the streams were cold. When you jump in, believe me, you know it’s cold! So it wasn’t that I didn’t have the knowledge of it. It was that I never considered the gift of it. What a wonderful idea someone had to make the streams flow with ice cold water for whoever might happen by and need a drink. When we really stop to consider these things we can then express gratitude. Indeed, it is as if we have been invited to the most spectacular place in the universe, at least this side of heaven or as far as we know about the universe, which by the way is very little.

      So the plans have been made. The flowers have been strewn and a carpet of the tiniest ones has been laid amongst the blades of green. The brilliant sky has been curtained with the fluffiest of white clouds and the trees and leafy vines bare fragrant fruit.  It is the best of the best for us and no detail has been left to chance.

     No –detail-has-been-left-to-chance. Now that my friends, is worth considering.

     Recently while observing an elementary school class I was painfully stricken when the teacher, while teaching on the topic of space, declared straight from the textbook that the color of space is black. Now, like I said, I was there just to observe the class not to teach it. Nevertheless I found myself saying out loud, "No that is not true."  I just couldn't let that go by. It is too important. So I asked the children, "What color is space?"  About three fourths of them did say that space is indeed black and the other fourth didn't know. So of course, then I was compelled to get on NASA's website and show them the colors of space. And truly, I felt that if I never teach them another thing, this was good enough.

     There is a theory out there among some artists that the sky used to be white or gray all of the time. The reasoning is that the painters of the day never painted it blue. It was always white in all of the art work. I had never thought about it that much but it is true. The theory is that one day God changed the sky to blue and decided that sunrise and sunset should be spectacular events. So now we paint it that way.  Or perhaps one day He decided to let us see the sky as it had been all along, so then we started painting it as He let us see it. 

      The truth is, the sky is filled with many colors almost every day and the color changes from hour to hour or minute by minute. The sky is different every day and every night. The students seemed doubtful about my claims, so I started bringing in photos of the sun rising up over the mountains every morning. The children were so excited to see the pictures of the sunrise. They looked forward to it every day. It was as if they had never seen it and as if they could not see it except through my pictures. Of course they could see it; they just had to learn to actually look at it and think about what they were seeing.

     How many of us go through our lives with our eyes not seeing? So I ask you today, "What color is your sky?"