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Have you ever had a series of days when everything goes wrong? The past few months have been that way around our house. The hot water heater flooded the family room and the microwave oven blew up. The refrigerator stopped working and I broke a finger which was a nuisance for a number of weeks. None of these were serious but collectively they were trying. It felt like a cloud hung over our home.
It is easy to get bogged down by the small annoyances of life and lose perspective. Sometimes patience runs out and it feels like calamity is not far off.
This past week, only days apart, two rainbows appeared over our back garden. The first was a bright swatch of color far off against the hills. The second was spectacular, a full wide arc of color from one end of the valley to the other. It was truly breathtaking.
Both rainbows surprised me. I marveled at seeing something so rare and chose to believe each was a sign of hope; a sign that the Creator of all that is good and beautiful was offering a moment of respite, a moment of extraordinary beauty to be savored and remembered. Reading about rainbows I learned that in Christianity the rainbow is a symbol of God’s covenant and a sign of the restraint of wrath. How appropriate for our times.
A rainbow is a dramatic sign. It cannot be missed and if you are a person of faith it is likely to elicit a moment of prayerful gratitude for the wonder it offers. There are, however, less dramatic signs each day that offer respite from our troubles and a bit of hope.
Something as simple as a kind gesture from someone at the grocery store or a
conversation with a stranger as you wait at a dentist or doctor’s office brings
a smile and reminder of the goodness of life. Granted these are fleeting
moments that don’t take our troubles away, but they do connect us with others
in a way that lifts our spirits. They are signs of our human interconnectedness.
Watching the trees swaying in the breeze along the freeway while inching through traffic or the clouds as they move and change can be signs that remind us to breathe deeply and let the stress of the moment go. The examples are endless. It is up to us to seek and then recognize the signs that offer hope when our lives are in need of hope.
As we enter the week of Thanksgiving we give thanks for each of you, our friends and supporters. May you find moments of love and peace in your celebrations.
Gratefully,
Anne
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