Once upon a time, before there were plasma screen TVs, DVDs, or even cable, my grandparents got their first color TV set.  Prior to the addition of the color TV, the family had been enjoying The Lawrence Welk Show and The Andy Griffith Show on a black and white screen.  After months of anticipation and shopping for the right set, the day finally arrived for the delivery of the full-color set.

The family gathered to experience this miracle of technology for the first time.  Their first experience with Technicolor would be The Wizard of Oz.  As those of us who grew up watching Dorothy and all of her friends in color know, Kansas is black and white.  Oz is in color.  However, my grandparents had never seen The Wizard of Oz  in color, so they didn’t understand why Dorothy was singing “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” still in the archaic world of black and white.

My grandmother quickly set about trying to readjust the color on set, wondering what was wrong with the brand new TV.  By the time Dorothy landed in Oz, the ruby slippers were more like emerald slippers and Glenda was a funny shade of purple.  According to my mother’s recollection of the experience, the color never did get back to normal after all of the adjustments.  The keys on Jo Ann Castle’s piano were always sort of a greenish-yellow color and Opie’s hair always looked a little more of a purplish hue than strawberry blond.  No one ever complained, though.  They were glad to finally see everything in color (even if the colors were a little skewed).

Sometimes, if feels like I’m still viewing the world in black and white when I know that there’s a whole Technicolor world to see.  1 Corinthians 13:12 (NIV) says, “Now we see but a poor reflection as in a mirror; then we shall see face to face.  Now I know in part; then I shall know fully, even as I am fully known.”  The way that we see the world right now is not really the way things are.  There’s a whole full-color world of the Spirit going on around us all the time.