And the rainbow’s the sign
Shower finished, I’d been preparing for bed when I breathed a prayer I only pray carefully. “Lord. I need a sign.”
Sitting, still, in a season of waiting; a season, really, of death, I’d embraced it. Feeling its sentence heavy upon me, I’d grown tired in the waiting. The joy, though not gone, had been muted. Death was doing its necessary work. Oh, how I longed for the change it would bring. And yet.
And yet, I was human. Flesh and blood. Skin and bone. Prone to fatigue; to impatience; to exhaustion. Thus, on a recent stormy evening, I found myself, childlike, reaching for a Father I knew was there, just needing to touch Him. Needing (this, too) for Him to touch me.
“Lord, give me a sign.”
The wind, when it came, was strong. Whistling ’round corners, sending branches a-whirling, we sent the boys out to “put that trampoline away, and quick.” Mister and I, Little bouncing between, were watching the sun, the sky, that light…
“Come quick!” It was one of the boys, dialing the house up by phone. “You must see this.”
Flying to the back, we gazed through windows, eager. And there it was. A full rainbow, stretching from what appeared to be our own back yard just ‘cross to the neighbors. A full rainbow!
We gasped, exclaiming. How rare was this sight, and how lovely. A colorful arc, spanning the sky, storm approaching.
A sign. A rainbow. A storm, and a promise…
Riveted at my window sill, I thought of my prayer not 10 minutes prior, asking the Lord for a sign. There, right there in my yard, was His answer.
We watched as it turned brighter, brighter, ever brighter, and then a second one appeared, fading gracefully just above. What glory. What beauty. What grace!
Turning, then, I shared it with my family; how I’d asked, how He’d answered. They, too, looked in wonder at the sign in the sky. And then he said it. Little Schrock, feeling our excitement, sensing The Presence, exclaimed it right out loud, “Thank the Lord for joy!”
This morning, I’m thinking of storms. Of hail and lightning. Of floods and high waters. Of trials by fire and seasons of waiting. And I’m thinking of rainbows.
Thinking rainbows and promises. Like this one: “When you pass through the waters, I shall be with you, and through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you shall not be burned. For I am the Lord your God.” – Isa. 43: 2, 3
And this: “Never again will I flood the whole earth.” He’d told it to Noah, and He says it to us. And the rainbow (I remember) is the sign.
Never drowned or abandoned. Never burnt or neglected. Never forgotten, not forsaken. For the Lord, He has spoken, and the rainbow’s the sign.
As Little said it, my friend, and I echo it, too, “Thank the Lord for (such) joy!”
Most warmly,
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