Yesterday afternoon the sky opened up and dumped buckets of
water during the afternoon up until I began my drive home. By the time I walked
across the parking lot, only sprinkles fell, and the sun beamed. Rain, bright sun,
moisture in the air? Perfect conditions for a rainbow. So I looked.
Disappointed, I got in my car and drove off.
Then, as I waited my turn at an
intersection, I glanced to my left. My mouth flew open in astonishment. There
was a bright, perfect rainbow! And, picture this; a second rainbow was forming,
arcing over the first one.
I wanted to get out of the car and tap
on the windows of the other drivers to make sure they weren’t missing the
spectacular sight. They looked too busy to notice. After all, it was Friday. Everyone
knows Friday is a little crazy.
Still, I was like a little kid,
tracking the rainbow in my mirrors, glancing left every chance I could to enjoy
the splendor, drinking in the beauty before it dissipated. Then, as always, it
was gone. The beauty evaporated into the blue-gray sky. What the rainbow left
behind lingered. My spirit floated in worship and thanks for the beauty God
shared with me, for the reminder of his faithful promise not to ever again
destroy the earth by flood (Genesis 9:12-17).
And then I thought of a slice of pie
and coffee.
This week my husband and I recalled
a rough patch he/we went through. (When someone you love is having a hard time,
you have a hard time, too.) Through
downsizing, he’d lost his job, and he was having a rough time processing what
had happened. Our pastor didn’t have a miracle for fixing anything my husband
was experiencing, but he offered himself. Once a week he and my husband had a
slice of pie and coffee at a neighborhood place, and they talked. That pastor
probably has no idea that twenty-one years later we still remember that
kindness.
When times get bad, we can look at
the rain. We aren’t making up the rain—it’s cold and wet. I’ve done my share of
grousing about all kinds of rain. I’m learning to look for the rainbows. God
doesn’t forget us when we’re in the rain. I’m convinced that He sends the bows,
the talks over pie, and other encouragments, if we will only look for them.
Here are some gifts of love God sent
to me during some dark days:
I love African violets. Every time
things got rough during the two years on a job just after college, that African
violet was blooming—every time.
A friend gave me a gift bag each Friday
for four weeks when I began my first set of cancer treatments.
When I couldn’t hold the tears back
any longer, a work friend hugged and hugged.
When I had to buy a car, I met a
salesman who attends another campus of our church.
Each one of these experiences was
powerful and personal. God sent his love to me. He does it every day and in
countless ways, touching his children individually. We can look at the rain and
the clouds, or we can look for God along the way. When I look for him, I find
him. He wants us to find him. And He is there, really, genuinely there.
And what I’m also realizing more and
more is that he uses us to be his encouragements to others. Don’t you think
that's amazing? That we could be the encouragement he sends to someone else in
the rain?
Where have you found him on your
rainy days? How have you been a rainbow for someone else? Let me know. I love
rainbows!
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