Have you ever wondered what God's favorite colors are? Greens and Blues? Reds and yellows? Maybe its all the colors of the rainbow? Or maybe its every single color, with every shade and hue. After all, he created each one with his perfect imagination!

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From the beginning of Christmas Morning, I was asking God himself to pick his choice colors for the pages of this children's book. I personally see in black-and-white words, so my creativity in the world of art is close to nothing. I knew this story needed God's divine touch in order for it to come to life.

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As I was praying this specific request, I also "happened to be" in the book of Exodus in my daily Bible reading plan. And it is in these pages that I found three (if not four) of his "favorite" colors! Over and over again, God chose these colors:

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You shall make the tabernacle with the tent curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet yarns... Exodus 26:1

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And you shall make a veil of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen...Exodus 26:31

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You shall make a screen for the entrance of the tent, of blue and purple and scarlet yarns and fine twined linen... Exodus 26:36

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Contextually, God is instructing Moses how to decorate the tent of meeting--a place where his presence would reside among his chosen people while they wandered in the wilderness for forty years. Figuratively, my heart's desire is for God's beautiful truth to reside on every page of Christmas Morning.

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‍So there you have it! Blue and purple and scarlet became my color scheme, hand picked by the Divine Decorator himself! And to add to it, the fine twined linen is the white line that is intentionally drawn throughout most all the pages of Christmas Morning. (I wrote about the meaning of this white line in my previous post: ^{https://www.respitefortheweary.com/post/the-making-of-christmas-morning-backstory-and-the-white-line.} .

Here is one more fun and awesome fact-- another word was repeated in these same chapters of Exodus:

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They shall make an ark of acacia wood. Exodus 25:10

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You shall make a table of acacia wood. Exodus 25:23

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You shall make upright frames for the tabernacle of acacia wood. Exodus 26:15

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Now, can I remind you that my illustrator's name is Acacia? I don't believe in coincidences. I do believe in God's intimate and intentional instruction toward his dependent and faith-filled children. Acacia, who also happens to be my daughter-in-law, is the person who God has appointed to bring Christmas Morning to life through his sweet and holy touch. I am amazed at how he is working through her!

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God is in this book. His glory is what I want to come out of every page, every word, and every stroke of color.

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I could go on and on, but instead, I will stop here and say, "Stay tuned."

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There is more to come in the making of Christmas Morning...

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 A long time ago, I wrote a story called Christmas Morning for my four young kids. At that time, their ages ranged between 4 and 9. Today, they are young adults between 28 to 33! When I wrote this story, it was one of those times when the words flowed from my pen in one sitting. I loved the story then, and I still love it now.

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In a nutshell, Christmas Morning is about a little girl who wakes up on Christmas morning and then excitedly opens one gift after another. Each of these tangible gifts symbolize the intangible realities that we all have as Christ followers. It's a simple story with deep meaning; therefore, this book is for both the child and the parent.

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Periodically over the years, I would pull Christmas Morning out of my cabinet and attempt to have it published. I also sought out different artists, but in God's wisdom and timing, the answer to both the publication and illustration of it was "No...not yet." That is, until my son Davis met and married his beautiful Jesus lovin' wife Acacia, who also happens to be an artist. When I asked Acacia about potentially illustrating Christmas Morning, she drew a picture of how she envisioned the little girl in the story. When I saw her picture, I immediately knew that I had "met the little girl" that I had been waiting to meet for the past 25 years. God is good, exceedingly, abundantly good.

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So, Acacia was hired! She and I have been working together on this project for almost a year now. We meet every Monday morning via facetime. (She lives in North Carolina and I'm in Tennessee.) Our hopeful goal is to be completely finished and ready for the world to see it by September 1, 2025.

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In the meantime, my plan is to share different features that are within the book, the first one being the white line which can be found on almost every page.

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What does the white line mean? Simply put, the whimsical white line which swirls around the little girl as well as her presents is meant to portray the deeper and divine mystery that each gift holds. It helps make the invisible God visible, showing that he is wonderfully at work behind-the-scenes. Scripture says in 2 Corinthians 3:17, Now the Lord is Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. The white line symbolizes this freedom, found in Christ alone.

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Ironically, I am now reading book after book to my four young grandchildren. This activity is by far my most favorite thing that I do with them, just as it was with my own kids all those years ago. One thing they (my kids back then and my grandkids now) love to do is to trace lines with their little fingers on any illustrated page of a book. Whether it's a windy road, or a train track up a hill, or a kite in the air, they each take turns following the lines with their fingers. My heart's desire and hopeful prayer is that the white lines on the pages of Christmas Morning will be traced by thousands of little fingers, and that each and every one of these children will eventually understand the line’s depth of meaning: that the Spirit of the living God is wonderfully at work all around them.

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Stay tuned… The next post will be about the book’s specific color scheme and why!

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