The Color of Salvation is Green

As I walked down the hallway toward the living room where my mother sat rocking in my grandmother's faded blue Lay-Z-Boy recliner, I could feel the strange softness of the green shag carpeting beneath my feet. The carpet looked as if we had grown sod inside the house. It looked like lush, green grass that hadn’t been mowed for at least a month. I was going to find my grandmother because I needed her help; I needed her to help me talk to someone. It was someone who loved me and whom I wanted to know better, but I couldn’t find the right words to speak to him. Needless to say, I was nervous. I wanted what I said to be perfect and to sound like sweet music in his ears.

I remember what I smelled like on that night: like Dial soap and clean laundry. I had just taken a bath. Usually, a bath seemed calm and relaxing, but not on that night. Even as a child, I had too much on my mind. After my bath, I knew I needed my mother’s help. She would know what to do. I had heard her speak out loud to him many times. “Yeah,” I said to myself, “she can help me.”

When I finally reached her and persuaded her to leave the comfort of her easy chair, I led her back to the bathroom: the site of all my recent pondering. But, before continuing with my story, I have to tell you about this bathroom. It was truly a sight to behold. Everything in it was green. “Green, what a lovely color!” you might say to yourself. However, I can assure you that of the shades of green you are currently picturing in your mind, this particular hue of green is not among them. This was no ordinary green. To be as accurate as possible, I will compare the green shade of the bathroom to the color of the string bean or English pea flavor of Gerber’s baby food. I always hated that flavor of baby food (more for the taste than the color). And while the color itself was horrible, I will forever love that bathroom with the green toilet, green tile floors and walls, green sink, green everything.

For me, the color of salvation is green, that icky, baby food shade of green. Because, it was in that bathroom that I met him: Jesus that is. My mom knelt down on the cold tile floor with me and helped me talk to Him. She helped me pray to Him and ask Him for freedom, for forgiveness, and for eternal life right then and there. A green toilet served as a form of makeshift altar.

For various reasons, my family and I were living with my grandmother at the time of my conversion. With all of us living under one roof, it was cramped; sometimes there was tension. But, I didn’t mind the lack of space or privacy so much because it was in that house, in that green bathroom, and in those conditions that I found Jesus and became His child.

- Whitney Swanzy Hornbuckle