When Joseph was given the gift of a coat of many colors, he probably did not have any idea just how many colors would be woven into the fabric of his life. Favorite child, near fratricidal victim, slave, steward, alleged adulterer, prisoner, assistant to the warden, interpreter of dreams, the second in command of all of Egypt. Had he known what even half of those colors represented, he would likely have tried to give the coat back. But I think that Joseph’s remarkable ability to pivot with each new wrinkle is because he understood that he was so much more than the ever changing circumstances in which he found himself. Whether he was wearing his steward’s robes or prison garb, he was still Joseph underneath his coat of many colors. Wherever he found himself, he tried to live up to the responsibilities and the mantle that had been given to him, but when it was time for a change, he had no issues letting go of his old coat and moving on, even when he had to leave the coat in the hands of Potiphar’s wife. We have all chosen to come to earth to experience a brilliant, multi-colored kaleidoscope of different roles and positions and circumstances. Maybe some of those colors are that we are, temporarily at least, wealthy or poor, loved or lonely, healthy or ill, wise or foolish, courageous or fearful, faithful or doubting. All of these experiences get woven into our coat of many colors, but it is important to remember that we are not the coat we wear. However lovely we find the pattern of our current coat, we will be asked to trade it in for a new one, one with even more colors woven into it. We may not always like some of these new colors, but we will be asked to trade it in again soon enough. The important thing to remember is to follow the example of Joseph and to fully embrace the office and the responsibilities of the coat that we are currently wearing, and not spend all of our time longing for our old coat, or daydreaming about some possible future coat that may or may not ever show up. I hope we can all find a sense of purpose in whatever coat we happen to be wearing, without falling prey to the temptation to coil our identity too tightly with this or that version of our coat. However many colors our coat has at this time, our Heavenly Father has many, many more colors to add to the pattern before He is finished with our coat or finished with us.
