He colored her ugly.

I'd never met Sandra before. But Tom was talking about her. So he introduced her to me. Well, not in person actually. Instead, without him realizing he was doing it, he drew me a picture.

He colored her ugly.... "in a nice way" (you know how Christians sometimes act like they're not trying to be ugly toward the other person they're talking about). By the time he was done, I already didn't like her. Sad really, for I didn't even realize that I was forming my opinion.

It was a couple of months later before I ran into her. I didn't know who she was at first. I'd never met her personally. I wouldn't have known her face. I bumped into her in a Lifeway Christian Bookstore. We quickly hit it off, both talking ninety-to-nothing, both sharing testimonies over our whoa-nesses of our Savior, both basking together in the awe of our God. It wasn't until deep into the conversation that I figured out who she was. I recognized her name immediately when she said it. And that's when it dawned on me that I'd heard it before. I remembered instantly all that Tom said.

I walked out to my car, got into it, turned it on, but didn't move. Rather, I sat there stunned. I told my youngest daughter, "Oh my goodness, I just met a girl that's really nice... that I really liked... that I didn't like before. I had prejudged her and decided I didn't like her purely on something that someone once said. Someone had colored her ugly to me once and I believed them and based my opinion on that."

Ugh! I did repent and ask God to forgive me!

Wow! It was the first time I realized the impact of our words when talking about someone to someone else. It's the first time I realized that any time (and I do mean ANY TIME) we're talking about another person we're coloring a picture to another of what they look like. Of how we see them. Of how we want them to be seen. We're either coloring them ugly. Or coloring them beautiful. Or, I suppose, all sorts of in-betweens.

Who have you been coloring lately? And what kind of picture of them did you leave when you left?

I suppose I could leave all sorts of verses here that would find a perfect fit. One being Eph 4:29, "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen." Or others that address: gossipers, or slanderers, or malicious talkers, or backbiters. But how about this one? This one seems to sum it up well and remind us that we all need to be careful what we say no matter who or what we're talking about: "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you."

If you don't want to be eaten (talked about) for someone else's lunch, then decide right now that you'll not divulge and eat another.

Not only that, remember that it's God's child that you're coloring!

Let's color pretty, girls, when we start to color. Our children are learning to color with the same crayolas that we use!

(P.S. Pssssst.... I see that crayon! What color are you fixing to paint her?)