Mood Skin and Sparkles

We often use colors to describe ourselves: red with anger, feeling blue, a golden glow, green with envy. Aren’t you glad that we don’t actually turn colors with our moods? We wouldn’t even have to ask, “How are you?” And we couldn’t get away with a simple, “fine, thanks.” Everyone would know if you were lying. I wonder if there would be a color for that?

On a recent trip to the Monterey Aquariam, I saw a video that explained how the giant octopus has skin that changes color with its mood. “Huh. Mood skin–like a mood ring,” I thought. In a different part of the aquarium, I read a sign that said that sea horses will actually glow or sparkle when they are feeling amorous towards their mates. Hmmm.

Can you just imagine how different our lives would be?

I, for one, am extremely thankful that God didn’t give us mood skin or attraction sparkles. What if you “sparkled” at the wrong person? Then you might be red with embarassment AND sparkly. Yikes. Talk about a teenager’s worst nightmare.

No, God gave us a little more dignity than that. He allowed us to hide behind our fig leaves and our fake smiles. We can hide our moods, our shortcomings, our embarssments from each other. But we can’t hide them from God. One of my favorite Psalms (Psalm 139–read it all here) talks about how God knows us completely, inside and out. It even says, “Before a word is on my tongue you, LORD, know it completely.” Though we can sometimes hide our emotions from each other, we can trust–and take comfort–that God knows it all.