The Color Purple

As part of my reflections lately, I have been going on "nature walks" around my yard and neighborhood and finding some of God's artwork that inspires me. I saw this Morning Glory blooming late in the afternoon and couldn't resist a shot. This flower is very symbolic for me because it reminds me of my Granddaddy, who passed away when I was about 14. He was like a father to me and we spent more time together than just about any other adult spent with me during my childhood outside of my mom. He had a wood shop behind his house and I used to spend my summers there learning how to use the tools of the trade. I helped him build tables, gun cabinets, stools, hope chests, end tables, coffee tables, toys, etc. These were some of the most precious moments of my childhood. I had a pretty tumultuous home life and there was a certain peace being in his presence, like all was safe and warm and loving. He never had much to say, but our hearts did a lot of communicating that tongues and voices aren't needed for. Growing all over his wood shop was an incessant vine of Morning Glories. The vine became quite intrusive, even slipping one or two of it's tendrils in through a crack under the door, as if to see what craftsmanship was taking place inside. My Granddaddy never cut them down or pulled them up, or even really made any attempt to control them. He was the one who first told me the name of that truly glorious flower. I asked him why they named it Morning Glory and he said it was because they only bloom in the morning and the blooms close as the day grows later. I don't know if this was true or not, or if he just wanted to have an answer for me; I have noticed that most morning glories do twist up closed by the late afternoon in preparation for their grand appearance the following day. The house I live in now is surrounded by Morning Glory Vines in the woods all around our house and climbing on the house itself. For some reason I cannot bring myself to kill these vines or pull them off of my house because I feel like they symbolize my Grandfather. Every morning I go out my back door and see a whole crop of them blooming gorgeously in the early light of morning and it feels like a giant, "Hello!" from Granddaddy. I feel like their presence here is my Granddaddy saying he will never really leave me and he is protecting my house by wrapping those loving vines around it like his big strong arms would have wrapped around me for one of his famous "bear hugs." I have also noticed that quite a few of the flowers do not close up in the afternoon and this says to me that he is always watching--ALL day, not just in the morning. All of this symbolism makes me think of one of my favorite books, The Color Purple and my favorite quote from the book:

"Listen, God love everything you love--and a mess of stuff you don't. But more than anything else, God love admiration."
"You saying God vain?" I ast.
"Naw," she say. "Not vain, just wanting to share a good thing. I think it pisses God off if you walk by the color purple in a field somewhere and don't notice it."
"What do it do when it pissed off?" I ast.
"Oh it make something else. People think pleasing God is all God care about. But any fool living in the world can see it always trying to please us back."
Excerpt from The Color Purple by Alice Walker

God does please me with my Morning Glories and my memories of my Granddaddy that they bring. No wonder purple is my favorite color!