Green is my favorite color. I’ve never particularly liked the color purple….the actual color…..I loved the book by the same name. But purple is all around me these days. The coneflowers are popping in our garden and the morning glories, with dedication each morning, welcome the day with their showy,brilliant,royal color….purple. This hue, derived from the combination of blood red and the blue of the sky has always been the symbol of royalty. It is the color used during the season of Lent which has always seemed a little odd to me, given that Jesus never wanted to be thought of as a king, as royalty. But those who make such decisions assigned this important season,meant to connect us with his life, death and resurrection, the color purple, the color of kings.

In ancient days, weavers of cloth, could make quite a living for themselves creating purple cloth. We read in Acts……"A certain woman, named Lydia, a worshiper of God, a dealer in purple cloth."….became one of the few female disciples to actually be named in the scriptures. Weaving purple cloth gained her ‘named status’ in accounts that often simply said ‘the women.’

There was book making its round in certain circles several years ago called When I Am An Old Woman, I Shall Wear Purple. Its message was not lost on me. As women age, they can become invisible to the world, so wearing purple says "Look at me! Here I am! Notice!"

But I would not wear purple to be noticed, not by humans anyway. I would wear purple so the butterflies would fly around me,as they are around the purple coneflowers in our garden. I would wear purple so they would gently land on my arms and my head and slowly open and close their wings, displaying for all the world to see, the grandeur of the intricate patterns that give them flight. I would wear purple and provide the safe, stopping off point for their graceful,illusive dance that brings even more beauty to an already exquisite summer day. I would wear purple so I could stand very still and allow these magificent symbols of resurrection a resting place…… they who have lived in the darkness of coccoons and have been born into the beautiful reality of the world deserve a royal landing.