A Message from God?

My mom used to singsong a rhyme to us whenever there was a rainbow.
"Rainbow in the morning, sailors take warning.
Rainbow at night, sailors delight."

I know now that my farmer family probably got the rhyme wrong. It had more to do with red skies. It's the rainbow rhyme that stuck, though, because it was my mom who taught it to me.

We saw lots of afternoon rainbows growing up, the result of breaks in afternoon thunderstorms so common in our part of the world. Never, not one time, did I see a rainbow in the morning. They were always in the east, always after lunch, always after a storm. Once I learned the science behind it, the possibility of a morning rainbow seemed slim. Red skies before breakfast, sure. Rainbows, hardly.

This morning, there was a rainbow. 6:55 a.m. High in the western sky, almost overhead, a bright and clear arc of color glowed against the steel-gray clouds. My ancestors would have tried to read meaning into it. It is a portent, an omen, a thing to make warning rhymes about. We moderns are less personal about such things. It was merely a break in morning storms, the pale eastern sun beaming enough light through thin clouds to create the phenomenon.

I'd rather have an ancient mind today. It is my daughter's Confirmation Day. She will make her public profession of faith in Jesus, receive the oil on her forehead, be sealed for the kingdom of good and light. Did God send it just for her, so on this morning of mornings she would wake to a reminder of his promise? I want that personal message, that bright and glorious word to be for her, for us.

I am not ancient-minded, though. If we interpret the rainbow as a blessing, would we have to interpret the rain as a bad sign? In parts of Africa, rain on the day of an event is looked on as a sign of God's blessing, but not here. I am not likely to attribute disasters in Creation to God's wrath. Why would I see a personal message in a rainbow?

We can look for curses or blessings in the created order. People do it all the time. We can attribute to God things like earthquakes and floods, equally to him the lovely signs like rainbows and sunny skies. Or we can know that earth itself is a gift, and it is full of opportunities to connect with the Creator, if we are paying attention.

For today, at least, a rainbow blessed our morning. I believe it is a sign that behind all things, there is Someone who loves beauty and surprises and a girl who is being confirmed and her friends and their parents. Perhaps the real miracle is that I noticed, in the early morning at the beginning of a busy day. I wonder what else I've been missing by not paying attention?