PRACTICE: What emotion, if any, does a rainbow evoke in you?
I don’t think I saw one all summer! When I had this startling thought, I was a little perplexed! A summer without a sighting of a rainbow. That’s just odd. I started thinking about rainbows after they were referenced in a meditation piece that I currently use. In the piece, the listener is reminded to always and, in all things, be grateful because there is a rainbow in every cloud. “Hmm,” I thought. Is that true? Turns out that it is – literally.
Rainbows are produced when the air is saturated with water droplets and the sunlight behind the observer is at a certain angle. Water droplets in the air are not a rarity and sunlight is always present. The key to the rainbow sighting is the observer’s vantage point. My research of rainbows revealed that the most spectacular ones occur when half the sky is dark with raining clouds and the observer is in a spot with a clear sky in direction of the of the sun. The rainbow that is produced is vibrant, beautiful and visible juxtaposed on the darkened background. Rainbows are always present. I am not always able to see them.
WOW, life is no different. The vantage point that we choose will either reveal the rainbow in a situation or not. Gratitude becomes the vantage point.
My friend lost the battle with a form of leukemia a couple of years ago. His battle with the disease lasted 5 years or so. I wasn’t with him everyday but when I was, the setting was close and intimate to reduce his exposure to germs. On those occasion, I experienced a man filled with gratitude for the present moment. He lived from the vantage point of the dark cloud of his disease in front of him and the sun and clear sky perfectly aligned to give him the rainbow of the moment. I always left his presences feeling like I had spotted that rainbow too.
My friend showed his family and friends how look for the ever-present rainbow. I am sure that some days the dark clouds completely covered his sky and he had to make himself change his position to find the right position with the sun (Son) to catch a glimpse of the rainbow.
So, what lesson might this teach us. It is simple. It is hard. It gets easier, I think, with practice. There is always a rainbow in the situation, gratitude is one of the ways to change the vantage point so that it can be seen. TRY IT!
Genesis 9:12-13
PONDER THIS THOUGHT – Rainbows can teach me something about how to live a healthier, holy and whole life.
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