Edges

O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
you discern my thoughts from far away.
You search out my path and my lying down,
and are acquainted with all my ways.
Even before a word is on my tongue,
O Lord, you know it completely.
You hem me in, behind and before,
and lay your hand upon me.
Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
it is so high that I cannot attain it.

Psalm 139:1-6

If you haven’t heard, there’s a huge trend out there of full grown adults sincerely enjoying coloring books. You can now find adult coloring books on sale in bookstores, airports, and even in the checkout line at the grocery store.

For a while, I found it difficult to see the appeal. Granted, the coloring pages are usually more abstract and complicated than a typical child’s coloring book, but they are coloring books nonetheless. The process of coloring in between the lines is still the same, and it seemed confusing to me that people would want to limit their creative ability to a prefabricated outline. 

Recently, I learned of an adult coloring class that a friend of mine has been hosting as part of her work in a local church. Once a week, a small group gathers in a small room. Most of her students are elderly, and many of them have endured the death of a loved one or a recent illness.  In the class, they listen to music as they move crayon across paper and create unique artwork through the rhythms of coloring.

There is a certain peace in knowing one has boundaries. So often we worry about the future and fret about the past. We cultivate anxiety when we dwell on things we cannot change and lose ourselves as our minds wander beyond that which demands our immediate attention.

Psalm 139 has become an important resource for me during the season of Lent because of the perspective it offers. The poem begins by meditating on the unfathomable expanse of God.  Theologians call this God’s omnipresence which is another way of saying God’s everywhere-ness. God is present in our every movement and perceives our every thought.

The heavenly Father is so far beyond us that the Psalmist says in verse 6 “such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is so high that I cannot attain it.” It is as if God’s everywhere-ness overwhelms the writer of this poem. God is so far beyond we can’t begin to understand it.

I think people like adult coloring pages for the same reason this Psalm was written. When we reflect on the limitlessness of God we can’t help but be aware of our own limitedness. We live a finite existence in a finite world for a finite period of time. We have boundaries and edges that are like the lines on a coloring page.

But God doesn’t. God is omnipresent, and, although it is an overwhelming thought, it is also comforting because it means that God creates our edges. Or, better yet, God can be our edges. God can ‘hem us in, behind and before’ and give our lives definition. It is as if our lives are a coloring sheet and we need only be concerned with what what goes on in between the lines.

We are finite creatures. We have a lifespan and an environment that is not endless. We cannot control death and we cannot avoid tragedy. However, our Creator is limitless, and our Creator cares, and our Creator is eagerly waiting and watching to see us color in between the lines.