Today was so pretty with bright sunshine to warm the Earth. Mother Nature kept the temperatures down but she burned the overcast vanilla sky off mid-day and I saw some pretty blue sky. I love to watch the sky transform during the day. The myriad of colors that shade the sky are so vivid and so different every day. Even when the sky looks like it’s just one color, on a heavy overcast cloudy day, you keep looking and blues and grays and all tones of white will be visible. I used to think that white was just white but after I became a nephophile, I noticed how many different shades there are of every color in the clouds. I think Mother Nature stirs the clouds around with her fingers and mixes the colors up after Father Sky has sketched them with his pastels.

I watched the sunset today and for some unknown reason I thought about a little package of Sweetarts, my favorite childhood candy. Then I realized the colors on the horizon were the colors of the candy. The light pinks and blues and oranges and yellows are all found in a roll of Sweetarts. When the golden ball of the sun rolled down the horizon Mother Nature found her paint brushes and picked up her palette of soft watercolors and washed the sky in pale pinks and oranges and blues and yellows. The whole horizon around my home was bathed in pale baby pink. So pretty as the twilight dimmed and the night awakened.

I just went outside to check on the Man in the Moon and the bejeweled stars and could not find the moon and only saw four stars twinkling in the navy velvet sky canvas. It’s chilly out so I don’t blame them for now wanting to come out of their cloud covers. Father Sky probably tried to coax them out.

I’ve been reading about rainbows today and wondering if their colors are always in the same order. The colors are red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet. If you are lucky enough to see a double rainbow, you’ll see the colors are reversed in the second rainbow. It’s been years since I’ve seen a double rainbow. I was so excited I didn’t notice the colors being reversed on the second rainbow. I think the colors are always in the same order on the rainbow arches but since we all see colors differently that might not be true. It thrills me to see a rainbow arched across the sky.

A rainbow is a spot of hope and beauty in this fast paced sometimes cruel world, a prize God sends to let us know the storms are over and we’re safe in his arms. Some look for the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow but I think just seeing this wonder of nature is our pot of gold. God told Noah he set the rainbow in the sky as a sign for us and the Earth’s creatures that he would never again flood the Earth with the waters of a flood. God said, “I establish my covenant with you: Never again will all life be cut off by the waters of a flood; never again will there be a flood to destroy the earth.”

I never thought about all the animals and people who drowned during the flood till I was grown. As a child we were always talking about the animals who came “two by two” onto the ark with Noah and his family. We were not concerned or even worried about all the people that were left behind. Those thoughts would have frightened me as a child. It was probably horrifying for Noah and his family to hear all the screams for help from those not on the ark. And all the poor animals!

Our lives are like a rainbow. A rainbow needs rain and sun to make the arch of colors appear. Life as well needs stormy times and sunny times. You can’t enjoy the rainbows till you’ve weathered the storms. We can think of God as our rainbow, streaming down the colors of happiness and joy after the dark clouds of troubles and disheartenments in our lives are washed away and transformed by the light of his love.

Rainbows remind us we are living in a magical world with endless possibilities. We choose our paths in life and God will steer us down the correct path if our faith is strong enough to let him guide us. When we walk down the wrong path or choose a difficult path, God can remove the obstacles that block our paths through our prayers and thanksgiving. If you stay attentive to your faith during life trials and tribulations, you’ll feel God bringing rainbows into your life. They might not be visibly arched across the sky but they will be etched upon your heart.

“Shine your soul with the same egoless humility as the rainbow and no matter where you go in this world or the next, love will find you, attend you, and bless you.” ― Aberjhani