It was an accident that I saw it. A bluebird landed on the birdbath and I thought it a little drab, so I looked it up in the bird book and there it was, the bird yes, but also this sentence: "Like the blue jay, the bluebird isn't really blue."
I looked again. Sure looked blue to me. In fact, the photographer had taken a pretty good picture of it in my book and it was blue there, too. So what's up with this, I wondered?
"Feather colors are determined either by pigments, called pigmented colors, or by light refraction called structural colors. Feathers contain two types of pigments. The melanins are sharply outlined, microscopic particles we see as black, dull yellow, red and brown. The lipochrome pigments are diffused in fat droplets and produce brighter yellows, reds and oranges…When sunlight strikes a bluejay feather, the beam passes through the barb's transparent outer layer to the air-filled cavities that scatter the blue light and absorb the longer red wavelengths. Any transmitted light that remains after passing through the box cells is completely absorbed by the melanin. The blue we perceive is actually enhanced in intensity by the underlying melanin-rich black layer." (Anita Carpenter, Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine, February 2003.) Turns out, according to Ms. Carpenter, that blue jays and bluebirds are actually black.
So, it's a trick of the light, basically, and she also says that the angle from which you look can actually change the blue you see a little bit. But if you are familiar with the gospels the business about light shouldn't surprise you.
There are a lot of black-hearted folks out there who do their best to look blue. Just like the woman in Proverbs 7, they change the word and that keeps it from being sin, they think. "Let us take our fill of love," she says, when what it is, is "adultery." In fact, "Making love" in our society can be anything from pure married love to fornication, incest, and homosexuality. What makes it which? The light of the Word, that's what.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)
Think about it. When do most crimes occur? At night. What is one thing a lot of people do to deter it? Leave lights on.
The gospel is God's power to salvation, but only for those who will come to its light and repent of their deeds of darkness. It is no wonder that the Bible is no longer revered in some circles, that it is considered a book of myths, that it is in fact, a book of "Abominable Verses" (look it up online if you want to see ignorance and lack of context to the nth degree).
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:21) When we are doing right, we don't mind the light. We know that we will be justified in our works by the Truth of God's Word. We will in due time become the "light of the world" ourselves when we live by it and the Light personified.
The light will make our feathers blue, and the black underneath will no longer exist. It will be washed clean and white.
For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Acts 13:47)
I looked again. Sure looked blue to me. In fact, the photographer had taken a pretty good picture of it in my book and it was blue there, too. So what's up with this, I wondered?
"Feather colors are determined either by pigments, called pigmented colors, or by light refraction called structural colors. Feathers contain two types of pigments. The melanins are sharply outlined, microscopic particles we see as black, dull yellow, red and brown. The lipochrome pigments are diffused in fat droplets and produce brighter yellows, reds and oranges…When sunlight strikes a bluejay feather, the beam passes through the barb's transparent outer layer to the air-filled cavities that scatter the blue light and absorb the longer red wavelengths. Any transmitted light that remains after passing through the box cells is completely absorbed by the melanin. The blue we perceive is actually enhanced in intensity by the underlying melanin-rich black layer." (Anita Carpenter, Wisconsin Natural Resources Magazine, February 2003.) Turns out, according to Ms. Carpenter, that blue jays and bluebirds are actually black.
So, it's a trick of the light, basically, and she also says that the angle from which you look can actually change the blue you see a little bit. But if you are familiar with the gospels the business about light shouldn't surprise you.
There are a lot of black-hearted folks out there who do their best to look blue. Just like the woman in Proverbs 7, they change the word and that keeps it from being sin, they think. "Let us take our fill of love," she says, when what it is, is "adultery." In fact, "Making love" in our society can be anything from pure married love to fornication, incest, and homosexuality. What makes it which? The light of the Word, that's what.
And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed. (John 3:19-20)
Think about it. When do most crimes occur? At night. What is one thing a lot of people do to deter it? Leave lights on.
The gospel is God's power to salvation, but only for those who will come to its light and repent of their deeds of darkness. It is no wonder that the Bible is no longer revered in some circles, that it is considered a book of myths, that it is in fact, a book of "Abominable Verses" (look it up online if you want to see ignorance and lack of context to the nth degree).
But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.” (John 3:21) When we are doing right, we don't mind the light. We know that we will be justified in our works by the Truth of God's Word. We will in due time become the "light of the world" ourselves when we live by it and the Light personified.
The light will make our feathers blue, and the black underneath will no longer exist. It will be washed clean and white.
For so the Lord has commanded us, saying, “‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.’” (Acts 13:47)
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