Do you realize how much effect color has on you? Green in restful. Perhaps that is why God made so much of it. But some other colors have an entirely different effect.

The day after the attack on Pearl Harbor, at the beginning of World War II, a blackout was proclaimed in all coastal cities. In a small hospital near the Pacific Coast, the workers were given instructions that any lights used should be colored ones. All sockets were immediately supplied with blue bulbs, including those in the kitchen and wards. On that first morning patient after patient sent his tray back to the kitchen, almost untouched. Patients who were almost ready to go home, suddenly found themselves completely lacking in appetite. Even the kitchen crew and the nurses failed to eat much breakfast that morning. (After all, did you ever try eating blue oatmeal?)

After a couple of mornings of wasted food, the workers appealed for different-colored bulbs. They got them, and it was remarkable how appetites improved! They had just seen an illustration of the fact that blue food is naturally unappetizing.

A certain church was the pride of its congregation. Half of one side, floor to ceiling, was all windows -- pink ones. When visiting it, we were impressed by the edifice until after sitting there for half an hour in the pink haze that filtered through those windows, I found myself getting more and more restless and nervous. I squirmed and wiggled, trying not to disturb my neighbors. Just then my friend, sitting down the row from me, leaned over and whispered during the intermission, "Let's get out of here. I simply can't stand that pink glow any longer!" We had just learned that pink can be a disturbing color. We went outside and walked up and down under the green trees for a while, and then went back to the church refreshed.

When others come in contact with us, what kind of person do they find? Are we calm and restful and comforting to be with? Or do we have the pink glare of restlessness about us? Are we as cheerful as the yellow sunshine, or do people come away from us with a touch of the contagion known as "the blues"?

Let's color our lives with shades that will bring glory to God and helpfulness to our fellow beings.