This morning, as I was taking a shower, I saw a rainbow right above the temperature gauge, which I have to keep inching up to keep the water hot enough as I get used to it.  TMI?  Well, anyway, as I looked at  that little rainbow, the first thing I thought of was a little song I used to sing with the children about rainbows.  It’s a great little song, but to make the song rhyme, you have to sing the colors out of order.  I just don’t like that…even though…I still taught it to the children.  I’m sure you know the  correct order of colors of the rainbow……

Following is a little technical info, should you care to refresh your memory about all this ‘stuff ‘ you learned in school.  Truthfully, for ME…it’s just enough to know that a rainbow has colors in a certain order…that’s the law…and I don’t have to know WHY. Obviously the One who decided this knows much more about such things than I.

Attention:  Technical Stuff…

A rainbow is composed of the entire spectrum of colors of visible light, from the longest wavelength, red, to the shortest wavelength, violet. The order of colors in a rainbow is easiest to remember by the following mnemonic (a formula that helps one remember something): ROY G. BIV. R=red, O=orange, Y=yellow, G=green, B=blue, I = indigo, and V=violet. Red is at the top edge of the rainbow and violet is at the bottom edge, with the other colors in between.

Rainbows are created both by reflection and refraction (bending) of sunlight in raindrops.  When a shaft of sunlight enters a drop of water, a part of it does not pass directly through but is reflected from the inner surface and emerges from the side from which it entered. Moreover, it is refracted both on entering and leaving the water drop. This process, repeated in the same manner for an immense number of drops, produces the primary rainbow, which appears in front of the observer, who has his back to the sun. It has the red band on the outer edge which are long light waves and the blue-to-violet on the inner edge which are short light waves.

Attention:  Awesome Stuff…

“Then God said to Noah and to his sons with him, “Behold, I establish my covenant with you and your offspring after you, and with every living creature that is with you, the birds, the livestock, and every beast of the earth with you, as many as came out of the ark; it is for every beast of the earth. I establish my covenant with you, that never again shall all flesh be cut off by the waters of the flood, and never again shall there be a flood to destroy the earth.” And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant that I make between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for all future generations: …”  Genesis 9; 8’16

 Do two people ever see the same rainbow? No. As the eyes of two people cannot occupy the same place in space at the same time, each observer sees a different rainbow. Why? Well, because the raindrops are constantly in motion so its appearance is always changing. Each time you see a rainbow, it is unique in its own spectacular way! 

DID YOU GET THAT?  Every time you are seeing a rainbow, NO ONE else is seeing the same thing you do.  You all may see that there is a rainbow in the sky…but each observer sees it differently.  I find that truly awesome and amazing!  God shows me this beautiful reminder of His promise in a way that is unique and special to just ME!  

Now, in all honesty, I do not understand all that talk about refraction and spectrum and wavelengths.  In fact, I can read it and tell you that all I get from it is that the colors follow a certain order and water and light are important parts of the miracle.  Never been too good with that kind of stuff.  But, I have NO trouble understanding that God is showing ME something that He is showing no one else.

The rainbow below was made out of a bus window as Joy and I were exploring Maui.  I love the way the raindrops give this pic a dreamy quality.

“Like the appearance of the bow that is in the cloud on the day of rain, so was the appearance of the brightness all around. Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking.”  Ezekiel 1:28

 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow  said that a rainbow was “God’s illumined promise.”

~ A rainbow in the morning Is the Shepherd’s warning; But a rainbow at night Is the Shepherd’s delight. ~This old rhyme has been used by sailors for centuries as an indication of the weather to follow.  (It is also sometimes used with the words “red sky’ in place of ‘rainbow’)  A Rainbow in the morning meant a storm was on the way…but a rainbow at night meant smooth sailing.

Below is a picture of one of the treasures of my heart.  When I was pregnant with Alex, we had prepared his nursery with a rainbow wallpaper that was VERY colorful!  One day, Adam came to me and handed me this picture and asked me to put it in the nursery so our new baby would know his/her big brother was happy that he/she was here.  We did not know if it was a girl or a boy, but this was such a sweet sentiment, that I took the pic and had it framed and it hung in the room until we had to take the wallpaper down because the boys…by now there were 3…refused to sleep in that ‘girly’ room any longer!!!

The rainbow picture was moved to my studio and has stayed with me ever since.  BTY, I know the colors are not in order…however they WERE in the order they were depicted on the wallpaper.

Meanwhile…back in the shower…as I looked at that tiny rainbow in my shower, it made me smile.  I looked all around the shower, and to the window high above my head.  There was no water on the glass in the window…and it was not raining outside.  I have some beautiful prisms hanging in some of my windows that cause many tiny rainbows to dance around the room when the sun hits it just right.  Probably due to refraction and wavelengths and stuff.  But, there were no prisms there.  Where was it coming from?  Never did see anything to cause it.  But, for some reason, God wanted to cause me to stop and ponder His wonders.  And, I did.  And, I thank Him for wonders I am blessed to see daily.  And, I thank Him that He is God…and able to control the universe and the laws that govern our natural world.  I thank Him that He can send a message just to me, no one else can see.   This beautiful creation of color serves as a reminder to me that every single promise He ever made is true…and will be true…for ever.  Amen.

“LISTEN!  Stand still and consider the wonders of God.”

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Job 37:14