A Slow Fade

Have you ever noticed how everything fades?  Nothing of God is stark in contrast and harsh on the eyes.  Everything he touches has a subtle glory to it that gradually changes from light to dark or dark to light.  Take the sunrise and the sunset for instance.  It doesn't instantly change from harsh bright light to pitch black darkness.  Although that would be more practical and God could easily choose to do that, he doesn't.  He chooses to start and end each day with a breathtaking 20 minute light show.  First the navy fades to a lighter blue, then gradually it turns into a baby blue hue.  Eventually the blues turn into light pinks and the pinks produce orange and the orange hits its zenith when it produces the crop of a bright yellow sun blazing forth in all its glory and light.

There is a Casting Crown song called "It's a Slow Fade" that also talks about this process--except in people.

It's a slow fade when you give yourself away
It's a slow fade when black and white have turned to gray Thoughts invade, choices are made, a price will be paidWhen you give yourself awayPeople never crumble in a dayIt's a slow fade, it's a slow fade
                     --It's a Slow Fade, Casting Crowns

Even the life of people changing from dark to light and light to dark is a slow fading one.  Again illustrating the fact that God makes everything beautiful in its time.  He does not rush any process, but draws it out as long or as short as he needs to in order to see the most beautiful part of his will done.  

"Sorrowful Flower" 2014. Oil Paint. Haley Hoover

In painting I often hear instructors talk about the gradual fading of the background of a painting.  While it is easy to paint the background one solid color, pile the composition on top of it and then call it done, it is the fading and blending of the background that brings depth and interest to the eye.  For some reason I seem to struggle with this.  I either want a plain solid background, or a background with bright, bold patterns.  Neither of these options are subtle or blending, and that often leaves my work with a lack of depth.  However, in the few times I have listened to my instructors and taken the time to go the extra mile and create an interesting, light to dark or dark to light fading background, I typically find myself amazed with my work and proud of myself for taking the road less traveled by.

Music is the same way.  When listening to a great song it doesn't start up in full swing, it begins with a tempo then builds from there.  The song has it's rising and falling through the melody and lyrics, but it is always a gradual rise and fall--producing something breathtakingly beautiful.  The words crescendo and decrescendo come to mind.  On the other hand, the song might begin full swing and then fade back to a slower, deeper tempo, and end on an up again.  The whole process is creative, but the point is that the beauty, the desire, the passion that lures you--it comes from a wonderful process of slow building up and tearing down.

Take a look around at all the beautiful things in life.  They are all slow fading processes.  The instant-gratification series is not part of the list of valued things in life.  A baby turning into a man, a seed turning into a bulging vegetable, an athlete's body changing from scrawny to meaty, a full course meal that starts with herbs, spices and onions--everything is made beautiful in its time.  Nothing wonderful happens in an instant.  

Nothing that is, except technology.  Technology is instant and it makes our lives better.  We should love technology and the instantaneous joy it brings us.  It completely illuminates the need for waiting or patience or process.  I think this is our way out of beauty.  It's our gift to ourselves.  We give each other permission to skip the design and go straight to the results.   

(That was sarcasm.)

Look at your relationships.  The best of friends are slowly made over time.  A woman and a man build the healthiest of marriages when they slowly get to know each other from strangers to lovers.  And in God, we love him more with each passing day spent in his presence.  We aren't instantly lovers with the Lord.  We start as servants and humbly grow closer and closer with him until we are his lovers and his is ours.  Don't be discouraged by the "status" of your walk.  It's a slow fade, like all things beautiful.