I recall a trip that our family took to the beach. The forecast called for stormy weather along our journey. As we started out, the weather was sunny to fair. About an hour into our journey, we encountered remnants of quickie downpours. As we drew closer to our destination, the clouds became more ominous. They were dark, and low, and they seemed to rotate. For a second, I contemplated telling my husband that we should turn back, or at the very least stop and wait for things to clear up. I could feel a sense of anxiety wash over me as I imagined what we might encounter as we drove through what looked like the makings of a serious thunderstorm. High winds. Hail. Torrential downpours. Tornadoes. The other drivers who behave like it isn’t raining. The other drivers who behave like they’ve never encountered rain. What if, what if, what if?
Then it happened. The bottom seemed to drop out of the sky and the rain came tumbling down. It was steady and heavy, and the clouds were thick and dark. I was genuinely afraid. I opened my mouth to suggest we turn back, but I quickly reconsidered, realizing how ridiculous it would be to suggest to my husband that we turn around when we were less than an hour from the culmination of a three and a half hour trip with two very excited boys in tow. I did the spiritual thing. Recited to myself, “Power, love and a sound mind. No fear.” I had prayed before we started our trip, after all. I resumed playing a game on my phone, still a little nervous but determined to work through the nerves, when something prompted me to look up. It was still raining, but the sun had come out. The clouds had broken. And there were rainbows. One rainbow. Then two. Then three. Then four. Five. Six. One rainbow after another. I marveled at them with childlike glee and awe. I took pictures of as many of them as I could. I had never seen rainbows so vivid or so beautiful. I wanted the rain to continue. I wanted the rainbows to stay.
As I gaped in wonder at their beauty, two words came to mind: “the promise”. I began to thank God for His many promises. I thanked Him for the combination of the rain and the sun, for without that combination, there could be no rainbows. As I meditated on God’s promises, something dawned on me. The storm was nothing like what I imagined/concocted in my mind that it would be. It was unnerving, and intense, but it was just a summer storm. I already had preconceived notions of something foreboding based on the forecasts that I had heard prior to us leaving home. That coupled with what looked like truly ominous clouds led me to the conclusion that an awful thing was looming beyond the horizon. Tempest in a teacup.
How often do we do that to ourselves in everyday life? We hear a potentially negative report, and certain circumstances seem to line up in a fashion that would render that report accurate. We start to behave like that negative event has already taken place, when in fact the actual event, while intense and maybe unnerving, is not the end of the world; and oftentimes minimal at best in the grand scheme of things.
How often do we miss out on the rainbow because we’ve already decided that the storm is too much to endure? How often do we miss the promise because the process appears to be more than we can handle? I’m going to make it a point to look for rainbows on the other side of my storms.
I challenge you to do the same.
Something New Every Day 