In college, I had to do a color study. My discovery completely surprised me. And years later, I still reference this truth.

In college, I had to do a color study. The study compared one color against many different colors. For example, I chose a blue and then painted many different colored swatches and laid them next to the blue. Depending on the color next to the blue, sometimes the blue looked navy, sometimes purple, sometimes sapphire. This discovery completely surprised me.

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The next day in class we discussed what we had learned. I (maybe a bit sleep-deprived) exclaimed with enthusiasm: "It TOTALLY matters what it's next to! Context is everything." My professor immediately responded: "Fantastic! The Asmar Principle!" (Asmar is my maiden name.) The revelation was important to me, but I didn't consider it to be important to any of my classmates. But then throughout the following years of school, The Asmar Principle would be referenced by both my classmates and professors – in papers, classes, to incoming students, etc.

The realization that context matters - with color and design, but also in every part of communications and even with relationships and life - was and is an important truth.

I still reference this lesson today. I experience over and over again that "it totally matters what it's next to." It's easier to understand a person, a situation, a statement, a crisis and more when you know what it's next to – when you have the full story and the context.

But we don't always know what it's next to – and I've learned that too. It's always, always better to give grace and allow for the context we don't know than to regret our actions later.

It's hard, but every day I try to remember that it truly does "matter what it's next to." 

What about for you? What context do you need to consider, in your work, at your church, with your family and friends?