Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Robert Howson
Tuesday, November 12, 2024
The ad agency responsible for this year’s offerings from Revlon, Toyota’s product development team, and the Glidden Paint crew each have the same assignment: coming up with new names for the colors being offered in this year’s lineup. Creative they are in their efforts to induce the consumer to purchase their product. God, on the other hand, is not in the business of selling; He’s a giver and He does so with limitless abandon. Let’s start a short list of the shades of red He has offered us: crimson, ruby burgundy, cherry, rose, and those aren’t even on the “creative” list.
And then there is vermilion, such as is used to describe the Vermilion Flycatcher. Flycatchers usually come in shades of drab olive, but for some reason this one splurged with color. Biologists would offer an explanation that this color in the male attracts the female and thus the survival of the species is ensured. While this seems reasonable, it doesn’t explain why the drab male Olive-sided Flycatcher is equally adept at finding female Olive-sided Flycatchers with which to breed.
It’s certainly not scientific, but maybe God just liked this shade of red and opted to give it to this species. Or maybe it was just a gift to us, knowing we’d enjoy this splash of color on our eyes. It just sounds like something God might do.