I have to confess that I am addicted to rainbows – when the sky goes dark with rain and the sun is still shining, irrespective of what I am doing I go outside to look for the rainbow and I am so disappointed if there is not one. Some years ago a friend and I were travelling from Newcastle to Carlisle along the A69 – all the way along we kept getting rainbow after rainbow, after rainbow. It was glorious. We decided that the collective noun for a lot of rainbows should be a Covenant of Rainbows.
This miracle of nature reminds me of the faithfulness of the God who always keeps his promises and over the years whenever I am going through a difficult time God sends me a rainbow. But a rainbow is often there for a moment and then gone, so when I see one it is like being given a really special present. Give me a double rainbow and I am ecstatic and when I see the whole bow complete from side to side it is the best! And yes I still wonder if there is a crock of gold where the rainbow ends.
A rainbow happens when the light is broken up into the colours that make the white light we see all the time. I don’t actually understand how colours make white, but then neither do I really understand how the blood of Jesus makes us clean! Knowing how hard it is to remove a blood stain this image is not easy to understand today, but like the gift of the rainbow, the gift of God’s love in Jesus, allows us to come into the light of God’s love which arches over us and reveals the glory of God to us. Once I was driven through a rainbow and we were dappled with the different colours. How amazing it is that when we open ourselves up to God’s love, we become the carriers of that love to others, we become in effect his rainbows reflecting his love, his promises and his glory. The line in the hymn “O love that wilt not let me go” reminds us to “trace the rainbows through the rain“. So I thank God for rainbows and the fact that when I see one I am seeing a miracle.
Gracious and Holy God, in whose hand we are held,help us this week to seek to
discover Your image in those with whom we meet, to discern Your presence in all
the experiences we go through, to live lives that show we belong to You, and to take
time to look for rainbows in the difficult times so we can remember that You are a
God who keeps His promises always. We offer our prayer through Christ Jesus.
Amen.
Prayer for the Week written by Denise Creed
You can download this week’s prayer as a .pdf here
