Dyeing Self to Christ
My recent layoff and employment efforts have afforded me plenty of time to think and learn and write. One of the areas I’m exploring is reduce-reuse-recycle, that is, how can you refresh an old piece through dyeing it with natural colors to hide stains or other imperfections.
Like any field, there are new terms like mordant, assistant, modifier, as well as familiar old favorites like acidic, alkaline, and neutral. There are chemicals like acetic acid, calcium carbonate, and alum. There are processes like cool dye and hot dye. There are tons of plants that don’t just look pretty but provide some beautiful shades of all the colors of the rainbox.
Prior to dyeing a fabric, you need to review the fabric and what you want to use to dye it to determine what materials are needed to accomplish the dyeing process as well as which process to use. Plant fibers (cotton, linen, rayon, viscose) and animal fibers (wool, silk, mohair) have different chemical structures and require different processing. Different materials for dyeing have similar variations; for example, using safflower to dye a fabric can result in a yellow-orange or pink-red depending on how the color is extracted (cold water bath versus alkaline wash).
If the fiber is tightly structured, applying a color may require the help of mordant. A mordant is a chemical that “likes” both the fiber to be dyed and the dye; it binds to the fiber and the dye to hold onto the dye and produce a brighter shade that doesn’t fade.
Mordanting is tricky business. Use too much mordant, and the mordant actually coats the fiber and prevents the color from taking. Use too little mordant, and the color doesn’t take. Mordanting in the wrong order can cause a waste of dye, as mordant in the dye bath holds the dye then floats away.
Which set in motion a crazy analogy in my head…
Christians are fabrics that are supposed to be dyed in the color, image, and likeness of Christ. We are to have a relationship with him that is so close, you might say we’re bonded and are led to act in ways that show others who have never seen Him Who He is. Doesn’t matter the hue, we’re to be vibrant, authentic, real shades of Him.
Mordants would then be those people and things that facilitate our relationship to Him and to His people. And this mordanting too requires the right balance.
Too many of the wrong people or relationships in our lives, we can’t bond to Christ and pick up his image; too much material is in the way and blocking our connection to Him. Too few of the things that help us understand Him as best we feebly can (things like Bible study, worship, right relationships, quiet time), and again we can’t bond to Christ and pick up his image; there aren’t enough of the right things to help us in our connection to Him.
In effect, we are dyeing ourselves to look and act like Jesus. We die to those things and people that pull us away from Him and prevent us from connecting to Him, and we turn under the power of His Holy Spirit to those people and things that help us connect to Him, reflecting His Life, Love, and Glory in our lives to those around us.
Or maybe that analogy just wafted in on too much mordant solution…
Galatians 2:20 (ICB): I do not live anymore — it is Christ living in me. I still live in my body, but I live by faith in the Son of God. He loved me and gave himself to save me.
