"Why Teal"

From bluegirlsministry.wordpress.com

Since before I became the girls minister at FBC Frisco, I've been wracking my brain for the perfect name for this girls ministry. I've googled plenty of other girls ministries, and have found some good names and a lot of really cheesy names. I wanted the name of our ministry to mean something, to be unique, and to be catchy and cool. I am tired of lame acronyms and have been on the hunt for the best. I know that every name could be modified but today I have chosen "Teal | A girly shade of Blue."

I sat down many times today to make this blog, plan out a mission statement, and get a name for this girls ministry. It's been difficult and not every goal has been accomplished. But I think we have a name!

At high school camp, earlier in the summer, I was hit with the idea of Yellow as our girls ministry name. The spirit during rec this year was unbeatable, and the "yellow team" (11th grade) was huge and very spirited. I had the thought that since we are called "Blue" as a whole youth ministry, why not name the girls portion a color. What better to compliment Blue than yellow? Well, as I thought it over more and more, the word "yellow" is just so long and awkward to say, and I wasn't sold on the idea. I talked it over with a few people, and they liked the color theme, but yellow wasn't really the color to do that with.

So then I used the ever handy dictionary.com to find some synonyms of "blue." The keepers were cyan, periwinkle, sapphire, and teal. None really caught my eye. :-/ But the more I thought about teal and a "lighter shade of blue" or "Girly shade of blue" the more Teal grew on me. It is also really pretty, so I figured we'd think on it.

As I was using dictionary.com, I found a few things.

1. The actual definition of teal is: "Any of several species of small dabbling ducks, of worldwide distribution, usually traveling in tight flocks and frequenting ponds and marshes."
Not that I particularly love birds, but ducks are neat and what stood out to me is that they travel in "Tight flocks." The verse that I have in mind as the central verse for our girls ministry is John 13.35: "And they will know you are my (Jesus') disciples if you have love for one another."
I feel that the tight flock ties in nicely with that verse. God calls us to be a unified body of believers and for our lives to be defined by how we love. It is essential that as girls, we stick together in a close flock.

2. The color teal got its name because of a bird (see above comment). This bird has teal all around its eye. I find this interesting because eyes are very important. Descartes (an old French philosopher) said that "the eyes are the window to the soul."
I love that! In scripture, time and time again, the psalmists write of lifting our eyes up to the Lord, both in praise and in times of trouble. If our eyes are the window to our souls, and we are to constantly lift them up to the Lord, then it is as if we are to continually have our eyes and souls fixed on God so that He can see our very soul. God doesn't need just our eyes to look at Him in order for Him to see our souls, He does that all the time - He knows our very thoughts. However, our attitude and entire beings should be so fixed on God and our lives should be walking in the direction of the Lord that when God looks into our souls, He is glorified and ever so proud. I think these teal birds are onto something.. (:
Matthew 6 also says this about the eye: “The eye is the lamp of the body. So, if your eye is healthy, your whole body will be full of light, but if your eye is bad, your whole body will be full of darkness. If then the light in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!" I think this lines up with Descartes and challenges us to live holy lives.

3. Have you ever had a weird dream and then looked it up on the internet to see what it meant, even though it might be sort of superstitious? Me too...probably more often than I want to believe. Well, I looked up "teal" on one of those sights for color and found that teal represents "idealistic, faithful, sentimental; Emotional healing, rich, unique, and expensive." I like those words. I especially like that teal represents that which is unique and expensive. As daughters of the King, we are of greatest worth! Ephesians tells us that we are "His masterpiece" and Hebrews calls us royalty. We are so much more cherished and loved than the world lets on to. Christ loved us so much that He died for us; we were bought at a great price. As daughters of God, we are unique, set apart from the world, and cherished by our Maker. How wonderful to have such a gracious God!


So there are my thoughts on "Teal." It's simply a girly shade of Blue.

May we be girls that hold ourselves and others as unique daughters of the King, keep our eyes and lives in line with Christ, and that are united in love - very much like a tight flock.