God Still Sends Rainbows
Not the rainbow I saw referenced in the blog, but one I saw a year ago in my neighborhood.
It was an irregular weekend, in that I had nothing on my schedule for Saturday, no place to be, no work to get done, just an opportunity to rest and reset. I watched a few episodes of the “Reliving Single” Official Unofficial Podcast (check it out!), played outside with Stella, cooked a nostolgic vacation breakfast, packed up a few items for Goodwill and took a couple of naps. In the evening I got hungry for what was not in the house and elected to run out to pick something up. While returning, I saw a rainbow. It was so beautiful. I called home and told my mommy to come outside to see it. By the time I turned the corner, she was unable to see it, so I told her to hop in the car so that I could allow her to share in the experience. We saw it. It was a bit less visible in the short time I turned the corner, but she got to see it. In that moment, as I reflected about so much uncertainty and concern in the world, but from my direct impact, the United States, I said aloud, “God still sends rainbows.” I have been stuck like a scratched LP ever since.
Because honestly, for as many times as I’ve seen a rainbow in the sky, I needed the reminder. And contrary to what is on my timeline, affirming what is happening both in the United States and in the Middle East, I elected not to engage the ending of the world by fire, but instead to focus on the covenant and promises of God following disaster; and there are so many disasters to contend. I watched a different podcast than what I mentioned at the onset, whereby a group of White presenting men spoke about the lead actress, Domonique Thorn in a Disney series called Ironheart. To witness their verbal assault on her and the skewed representation of Blackness made me sick to my stomach. To consider the implications of the Supreme Court’s opinion on birthright citizenship left me numb, as well as removing agency for federal judges to uphold the Constitution and rights of people in a humane manner. To learn of another university president being ousted (I know it’s reading resigned) because of this warped and fake support of Israel and using the conflict to weaponize makes me grab my purse and walk away in my best Viola Davis depiction in How to Commit Murder. To be honest, all of it and I’ve named just a few sickening measures make me feel as though God has gone on hiatus. And who could blame Him. In fact, each of the aforementioned troubled examples are what we’ve collectively experienced as community, not withstanding what each of us navigate individually. So, I needed the rainbow. And I needed someone to bear witness of God’s promise, so much so, I told my mommy, “Get in and I’ll take you to it,” because she too likely required the visual representation of what God said!
We are reminded as God reminds Himself in Genesis 9:12-16: And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” God is not asleep, but perhaps He chose to remind Himself of the covenant He has with us. And perhaps as a result of God’s reminder, we engage yet again in ushering (or driving) others into the place where we may have left God or the belief in God or the hope in what we needed and still stand ready to receive. Just as God directs the clouds to allow the rainbow to present for us, we too may direct the clouds in our lives and the clouds in the lives of those around us to remember the promises; that we are loved and the cost of said love was paid with the price of Jesus long ago, regardless of the identities we hold and despite the fact that those identities are so vilely hated upon by others. God was very specific in His covenant in that it said in verse 17, So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” As we inhabit this earth, may we take solace in the fact that unlike the Constitution that is being used as ammunition against anyone not identified as a hetero White male (and maybe a White hetero woman occasionally), we each are a part of “all life on earth.”
So, until God elects to enact the tenets buried deeper in the covenant, to the best of your ability and mine, let us live. May we make prayer and communing with the Master a vital part of our daily walk. We need a constant reminder that we have a higher power rooting for us always. May we be the hands and feet of Jesus, assisting others and utilizing the gifts that God has granted us. May we love each other as fiercely as we can and give longer hugs to those who need them. May we cry when our hearts tug and weep as the vitriol presents. May we move our bodies, be it outside walking, in a gym lifting or with your boots and a fan to keep life flowing. May we take trips, local or abroad to take in other perspectives and other ways of being. And finally, may we find joy in chasing rainbows because every now and again, we need a reminder that God is still the orchestrator of life.