I imagine that many of my readers are Dr Seuss fans. What’s not to like about him, green eggs and ham, the Grinch, and all the rest we are introduced to in Theodor Geisel’s wonderful world? Among my favourites are My Many Coloured Days, which attaches a colour to the different moods we encounter in life, with the liberating conclusion that whatever the colour of a particular day, “it turns out all right you see… and I go back to being ME.”
In Dr Seuss’s world, some days are red, “On bright red days how good it feels, To be a horse and kick my heals” and yet others are pink, “But when my days are happy pink, It’s great to jump and just not think.” But there is plenty of room for others, as well.
What are we to make of brown days: “Some days of course, feel sort of brown, Then I feel slow and low, low down” or grey days “Everything is grey. But nothing moves today”? Even worse, “On purple days I’m sad, I groan, I drag my tail.”
Here’s my question: What do you make of your brown, grey and purple days? The slow, low days, the nothing moves today days and the sad, groan and drag my tail days?
Please don’t tell me you never have days like that, because Dr Seuss is right, these different moods are all just part of being me.
Actually, did you see what I did there? I slightly shifted Seuss’s take on it. Purists will quickly remind me that his conclusion is “and I go back to being me.” In other words, there is a “me” out there that is not brown, grey or purple, a “me” that I go back to being that has no particular colour. I’m not so sure about that. I think “me” becomes the accumulation of all our many coloured days. I’m not “not me” on a brown, grey or purple day, it’s just that on those days a part of me dominates a little more clearly. It’s all just part of being me.
If it is all just part of being me, how can I befriend my brown, grey and purple days?
I love that Dr Seuss writes for children, but that adults are his huge fans! That’s because beneath the many layers of fun filled images, he is speaking about life. Our life… our pink, purple, brown, grey and red life, our may coloured days.
On my slow and low brown days, what should I remind myself?
I’ve had a few of those lately. Most of you know I have been recovering from some unexpected surgery. It is all going smoothly, but the pace has been slower than usual. My specialist has said I can make a tentative return to the gym, but must be really cautious and lift nothing more than 10kg. Do you know what a fraud you feel at the gym when you set everything at 10 kg or less. Or you hop on the exercise bike, and, obeying doctors orders, set the resistance level to zero. People look at you with a “what right do you have to be here?” look. I’m trying to frame it positively, and to say to myself, “Ah, it’s good to be back, and each day will get a little bit better.” And it is… But Dr Seuss is right, some days just feel slow and a little low. And at that slow, low pace, things will get better. And that’s ok.
And then there are those grey days.
Grey days are those gloomy nothing happens kind of days. Sometimes they are a little menacing. Actually, I often long for them. Much of my life is a rush, far too much on the go. Grey days are those days you hold back – a storm seems likely. They are not the days to be parading outside or to take a risk. Bunker down, be cautious, it’s a grey day. Of course, grey days are wonderful for reading books, writing blogs or gently reflecting on what lies both behind and ahead. Grey days can be wonderful friends, but to be honest, on grey days I long for bright red days “to be a horse and kick my heals”, just as on red days, I often long for grey ones… What does that say about me? Or is it me? I suspect it’s us? Whatever our present coloured day, we wonder if it would be better if it were another. Carpe Diem – seize the day, whatever its colour.
And then there are those purple days.
Says Dr Seuss, “On purple days I’m sad, I groan, I drag my tail…” I guess there are three D words that are just a short step away from purple days… discouragement, depression, despair. For many that’s not the mood of simply a day, but might drag on for years, it might even be the defining colour. I have the occasional purple day, and I am grateful for them. I become moodily introspective. I challenge my preconceptions, and sometimes even lapse into a little bit of cynicism. I’m usually an optimist, but on my purple days I’m convinced that nothing will work. I usually see opportunities, even at difficult times. But on my purple days, I only see problems. I’m not really a purple day person. It feels like another me when I have them. But it is all just part of being me. And I am glad for the mix, especially as I have some wonderful (truly wonderful) friends whose days are mostly purple. I don’t know why it’s like that for them (and life is far too complicated to wrap things up in a few tidy sentences), but the little switch that occurs for me on my purple days makes my respect them all the more. For some it takes courage to get out of bed in the morning, and my rare purple days remind me to honour and be there for those for whom they are the norm.
I try to write each blog post in the light of the story of Jesus. What does His story say about ours? He certainly had his many coloured days. Days of celebration, of turning water into wine, days when he healed many and delighted in the immediate difference it made to them. There were even days when he raised the dead. And then there were days of confusion and exhaustion, and betrayal, and death. I’m not sure what colour we would attach to each, but I do know that the story of Jesus is one of incarnation and identification. Or as Heb 4:15 reminds us: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathise with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Each of our many coloured days brings us both opportunities and temptations. And we have one who has gone before and can fully sympathise, even as he models the way. So live each day fully, whatever its colour.
Nice chatting…
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