Chasing Rainbows

Many mornings in the pre-early dawn my mind hovers around a hazy place that threatens to engulf me in self pity, doubt and defeatism. I’m only half awake but awake enough to feel overwhelmed at the day before me. I, dear reader, am one of those who often takes on too much—or at least I think I do.
So, I lay there for a few hours more--not awake and not asleep-- because... darn it...it’s too early and I don’t need to get up yet! Tossing and turning doesn’t really thrill my husband (or me), so I eventually give up, kick off the covers and drag myself to the shower. By now, the sun is shining and I am fully awake because--for one thing--I’m freezing!
It doesn’t happen very often, but once in a great while a little rainbow in miniature appears on the tiny squares of tile that litter my shower’s floor. It bounces around like an errant school boy, almost willing me to catch it. I wouldn’t be surprised if a little giggle actually burbled out of the mini arc. I can not help but smile, but I am puzzled as to its appearance, although I do have a small, square patch of skylight installed above the shower. I have never regretted that. I love looking up through it on a day when clouds and blue are scattered about profusely. It’s my... Ahhhhhh, Calgon, take me away...moment.

I know that, simplistically, water and sunlight help make a rainbow, but it seems absurd that a tiny little arch of technicolor should appear in my shower at that precise moment. It was as if Tinkerbell were there with me! I feel silly as I look around my watery chamber, somewhat furtively, to see how it could be. And though I’m still not sure, it probably has to do with the thick glass door on the shower—mimicking a prism. Nonetheless, it’s simply beyond my understanding how that all lines up at precisely the right moment and place to produce the multi-colored swatch on the wet floor.
Naturally, the whole presence of the rainbow throws my mind into overtime thinking about a God who’s brain can dream up rainbows (especially in my shower) and how the fracturing of light produces a wholeness in the color scale. (Don't you just love oxymorons and their contrasting ideas?)
All this chasing after rainbows makes me think of friends of ours who lease summer rangeland to run their cattle on a place called “The Cat’s Back on the Divide here in Wallowa County, Oregon. It’s about the most beautiful spot on God's green acres, in many people’s opinion—including my husband's. The older couple were out riding their horses there one day when after a pouring rain, a huge over-arching rainbow suddenly appeared before them. To their surprise, amazement and sheer ecstacy they actually rode right under it or through it--I’m not sure which--the colors drenching their clothes and faces in multi colored hues of radiance. It must have been an awesome experience in the truest sense of that over-worked word, and I’ve never heard of such a thing before or since.

For most of us, rainbows are elusive and no one I know (besides my friends mentioned) ever really reaches one. All too soon my little fellow disappeared as well, but not before making me smile as I remembered it was God’s promise—and that is the point of a rainbow! Its very presence is to make us remember that He has not forgotten us.

"I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.--Genisis 9:13-16
Right there in my shower I said an out loud thank you to God for giving me this little happy remembrance that He is indeed there and that He provides. Suddenly I realized I was not only going to make it through the day, but do so triumphantly, knowing He had something worthwhile for me to accomplish and was there to help me do it.  I know it may have been a flight of fancy,  but I wanted to believe that the little rainbow’s reflection, which turned up in my shower, shown on my face all that day long.  It was enough.

the end!

*If you're needing a "Calgon take me away" moment,  jump on over to www.kenbushe.co.uk and take a look at his gorgeous artwork for sale on the site.