12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 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. 16 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.” (NIV)

This was the scene across from my home last Thursday. The picture does not really do it justice. It is not often that one sees the full rainbow. However, last week, I saw one not once, but twice. On Wednesday, the day before this picture was taken, I saw the most beautiful double rainbow I have ever seen in my life! I was traveling on the road and did not have my camera with me so was unable to get a picture. I can still see its beauty in my mind’s eye, though.

I was on my way to meet my brother and sister-in-law for dinner as it was my SIL’s birthday. The rainbows appeared just as I was leaving my home. As I turned off the two lane highway leading up to the four-lane highway I travel to reach the restaurant, I stopped at a stoplight and off to my left, the sun was an absolute ball of fire! I looked to my right, and I could see part of the double rainbow. As my daughter and I continued on our journey, we turned on to a major highway, and suddenly, the full arc of both rainbows was directly in front of us! Exquisite! I have never seen anything like it in my life! The colors were so brilliant that you could see every color of the rainbow. It stayed in front of us all the way to our destination. It looked as if we were going to drive right under it at any moment.

I have never seen a rainbow stay around for that long. Usually they are visible for a short time and then are gone. But this one stayed for at least 15 minutes. It was just beginning to disappear as we pulled into the parking lot at the restaurant.

I know I looked like a crazy person driving down the road scrunched down over the steering wheel trying to pay attention to where I was going while looking at the rainbow at the same time! I kept looking at all these people passing me seemingly oblivious to the glorious sight in front of them, and I wanted to shout, “What is the matter with you? Do you not see what God is doing here? How can you not be in awe of that?!”

Later, when I had some time alone and was able to reflect on what I had seen, I thought more about the meaning behind the rainbow and not just about its beauty.

The rainbow first came after the flood. The Bible says in Genesis 6 that God saw how great the wickedness of man had become and that every thought of man’s heart was only evil all the time. Genesis 6:6 specifically says that God was grieved that He had made mankind. And verse 7, “So the LORD said, ‘I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth…'”

In Chapter 9, we see that the rainbow came as a promise from God between he and Noah and every living creature that was and would forever come that He would never again destroy the earth by water as He had done with the flood.

Verse 16 of Chapter 9 says, “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.“

When I thought about what the rainbow represents, I could not help but wonder what God is thinking and seeing when He puts them in the sky. Is it just me, or does it seem like rainbows show up a lot more frequently these days? I do not remember seeing them much as a child. I remember them being quite rare.

While I certainly appreciate their beauty and never cease to be amazed when I see them, I think I will always wonder now as I stare at their magnificence if God is seeing how far our world has fallen and is reminding Himself not to destroy us.

However, I will also see it as a sign of hope, for that is what the rainbow really is. A reminder of God’s unfailing love for us. That His mercies are new each day, and that as long as we are still here on this earth, there is still time to fall to our knees in repentance and have Jesus come in and be the Lord of our lives.

May your next rainbow fill you with the hope of the God of all creation.

Sweet Blessings,

For the word of God is living and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart. Hebrews 4:12 (NIV)

I have committed to reading the Bible through in one year with Wendy Pope and those who have chosen to join her on this journey. We began January 1, and are reading The One Year Chronological Bible, New Living Translation. I love this Bible because the readings are already set out for you by day, i.e., January 1, January 2, etc. And, I have always thought it would be cool to read the Bible in the order the events occurred.

On January 3, we had reached one of those passages about the descendants of So and So. Now, I confess that in times past when reaching one of these sections, I was more likely than not to skip over it entirely, or, if I did start to read it, the names gave me such a fit that I would quit before finishing.

So, I reached this passage, which was specifically Genesis 10:6-20 concerning the descendants of Noah’s sons, Japheth, Ham, and Shem.

Again, my first impulse was to skim over it, but I thought to myself, “No, I committed to reading the ENTIRE Bible, and this is part of that. God obviously included it for a reason, or it would not be here, so I am going to read it all even if my tongue no longer works after trying to pronounce all these names!”

Ya’ll, God honored my commitment! His Word leaped off the page at me. I learned things about Biblical history I had never known before, and I can not tell you how interesting it was! Seriously!

His Word is alive and active. If we will but seek Him and ask Him what He wants us to know, He will show us.

That is not to say that I believe there will be a “divine revelation” every time we open our Bible. That passage of scripture did not apply to any circumstance I was facing at the time, but God did use the lesson to show me I can trust His Word to be everything I need it to be. I learned things I had not previously known. On another day, God may use that passage to apply to something specific in my life. How? I do not know. But He does. The point is that I must be in His Word.

My job is to earnestly seek Him. To want to know Him more. And I do that through prayer and the reading and studying of His Word.

He sees my heart, and He knows that I desire more than anything else to know more of Him each day. That is all that is required. When I seek Him, I will find Him. “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” Jeremiah 29:13 (NIV)

May He be found by you today.

Blessings,

I’m sorry I’m so late getting on here today, but it has just been that kind of day. Anyway…I just wanted to take a quick minute to share a cute story about how our attitude/perspective can affect us that was read to us tonight at my weekly Mary Kay success meeting.

Three Hairs (Author Unknown)

There once was a woman who woke up one morning, looked in the mirror, and noticed she had only three hairs on her head. “Well,” she said, “I think I’ll braid my hair today.” So she did and she had a wonderful day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and saw that she had only two hairs on her head. “H-M-M, ” she said, “I think I’ll part my hair down the middle today.” So she did and she had a grand day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that she had only one hair on her head. “Well,” she said, “Today I’m going to wear my hair in a pony tail.” So she did and she had a fun, fun day.

The next day she woke up, looked in the mirror and noticed that there wasn’t a single hair on her head….

“YEAH!” she exclaimed, “I don’t have to fix my hair today!”

It’s all in your perspective!

Blessings,