Songs in the Sky

A Second Chance… 

“Cheryl, check out the rainbow!”

I scrambled for my camera, but when I finally dashed outside, the colors in the partial rainbow had mostly faded to nothing.

Not another wasted camera op!  Last month it was the baby ducks trying to (unsuccessfully) jump the curb in front of the Mayo Clinic.  Then it was the twelve huskies pulling a man on his bike.  Now this?

Resolved not to let it bother me, I hopped in my dinghy and, with each paddle-stroke, encouraged myself to ponder the week’s blessings.  One, we were at Strawberry Lake Christian Retreat, our favorite spot in Minnesota.  Two, my father was with us from Ontario, Canada.  Three, four, five… We swam, fished, fellowshipped, and had the privilege of sitting under some of the best Bible teaching.

“Cheryl, look up!”

This time, my husband’s voice rang with extra excitement.

I looked up, and for a split-second, couldn’t breathe.  I was hemmed and hugged by the biggest “wow” of a rainbow!   It parted the sky in double bands of color, separating light from dark in an arc that stretched from one end of the lake to the other!

Thinking of you, I grabbed my phone and snapped the picture you see above, but the bow was too big to fit the frame!  I switched to video mode, and began, with shaky voice and hands, to trace it, record it, celebrate it – remembering as I spoke, God’s goodness wrapped in a bow with his promise.   Here’s the video, so you can watch the view of the rainbow from my boat.  Simply click on the bold.  You won’t want to miss it!

….To embrace the Promise

God made a rainbow covenant in response to his pleasure with Noah’s offering; not because God was a serious meat-lover, but because Noah’s sacrifice reflected his servant-like heart of pure devotion.

[box] So Noah, his wife, and his sons and their wives left the boat. And all of the large and small animals and birds came out of the boat, pair by pair. Then Noah built an altar to the Lord, and there he sacrificed as burnt offerings the animals and birds that had been approved for that purpose. And the Lord was pleased with the aroma of the sacrifice and said to himself, “I will never again curse the ground because of the human race, even though everything they think or imagine is bent toward evil from childhood. I will never again destroy all living things. As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.” Genesis 8:18-22[/box]

God never used the word “covenant” with anybody before Noah.

[box] “Then God said to Noah, “Yes, this rainbow is the sign of the covenant I am confirming with all the creatures on earth.” Genesis 9:17[/box]

Your Rainbow Still Sings…

Rainbows form when pure white light divides into beautiful bands of color…

Light shines through drops of moisture until they form a huge prism that reveals hidden light.  These colors already exist in pure light, but it takes a moisture-filled prism to reveal their hidden beauty.

Rain reminds us of sorrow, pain, heartache, and tears.  Could our miseries be revealers of light’s hidden qualities?

God is our light, pure, white, and eternal.  Who can see or grasp certain aspects of God’s colors or character until they allow the light of his influence to shine through the rain of their tribulations?

Through pain, God mysteriously reveals his compassion, goodness, mercy, and tenderness.  He freshly awakens us to these breathtaking attributes, these medleys of colorful hues we wouldn’t otherwise see.

…When you see from God’s Perspective

Interestingly, when you look down at a rainbow from high in the atmosphere, it’s no longer a semi-circle, but rather a full circle.

If you’re anything like me, you tend to get restless from your earthly vantage point.  You see small arcs of color fading in and out here and there, but in your humanness, you twiddle your thumbs, wondering when God’s going to fulfill his promises.

Rainbows remind us to look at life from God’s perspective because that’s where we discover God’s promise is already connected to its fulfillment.  They’re one.  

In the Book of Revelation, we tap into something interesting when John gets caught up into the throne room of God:  he saw a rainbow around about the throne.  It wasn’t just over the throne.  It was all the way around it!   That’s how it works in our world. The closer we get to the presence of God, the more we realize God’s promises are already settled in heaven.  If God says it, he’ll do it.  On earth as it is in heaven.

What could be better way to respond to God’s promises than to praise him in advance for their fulfillment!  Our faithful, loving, covenant-keeping God, who sees the end from the beginning, will always fashion life’s details for our good and his glory.

God of love, thank you for making rainbows from storms!  Help us see from your perspective.  Move us from our pity-parties and prisons to praise-parties in your prisms.  We want to  reflect your beauty far and wide.  Mold us, make us, bend us like light.  We celebrate your brilliance as we bow in your presence… willing, wanting, waiting ~ to become songs in your glorious sky.   For ever and ever.  Amen.

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How do you stay above water as you wait for God to fulfill his promises?  Thanks in advance for your comments below!