a beautiful rainbow!

​At 7:00 a few mornings ago all participants of the day’s water exercise class were watching the sky as heavy gray clouds approached from the west in a swirling tumble. When the sun rose over the club house, a beautiful rainbow spread across the cloud, a full arc with every color brilliant.  The clouds catapulted quickly over the sky sometimes colliding together in dark shadow and sometimes opening to reveal the bright blue sky of a clear day. The rainbow was static reaching across the sky regardless of movement of the clouds. As I watched, fascinated by the display, I noticed the colors of the rainbow were vivid in front of the darkest clouds fading to nearly imperceptible where the clouds parted revealing the clear blue sky.
 
I was reminded God placed a rainbow in the heavens to remind us of His presence, His love, His care, and His companionship; and to remind Himself of His promise to us to never send a flood to destroy the earth. 
 
There it was - a beautiful bow, arching over the sky from the horizon on the north to the horizon on the south.  Where the dark clouds covered the sky, the rainbow was brilliant; where the clouds had parted revealing bright blue sky, although the bow was there, it faded nearly to invisibility.
 
As I pondered this phenomenon it occurred to me what a perfect picture of our awareness of God’s care for me.  If my life is clear sailing, it is easy to miss the evidence of God’s provision; but when my life is filled with trouble – i.e. dark clouds, I can see evidence of God’s presence in my life much more easily. 
 
I pray our awareness is sharpened so we see evidence of God’s care during the good times as well as the troubled times.