Metaphoric teaching

Okay, maybe this is extremely lame, but God used the weather today to remind me of his truth.

I was in Black Forest for the day and a rainstorm was passing through when I was leaving. It was big but not so big that is covered the whole sky... as I was driving west the sunlight was still very bright, and the light was made much more intense by the dark cloud covering part of the sun and a good portion of the rest of the sky. This intense light amplified every beautiful color... the snow on Pikes Peak was so brilliantly white because there was some blue sky to the south, dark clouds above it, and bright sunlight from the northwest. It was crazy. As I looked at the foothills and mountains there seemed to be sooo many more hills than I remembered because the light and shadows combined to outline each one... I have no idea how it works. Every color and shape, though, was much more intense due to this combination of light and dark.

The lesson in that for me was... well, I've been going through my own metaphorical storm lately. And, God brought out some sunlight through that recently. The storm isn't over and it isn't huge, much like the one I saw today. But the goodness of the light combined with the difficulty of the remaining darkness amplified many things for me, helping me to see things a lot more clearly than I have before. Things about myself, relationships with people and with God, and how God works when sometimes it seems He is gone.

Then as I was driving north, I saw an extremely brilliant rainbow, made much brighter by the very dark clouds in the background. The rainbow in the storm reminded me that God keeps his promise, even during the darkness of the storm, and that His promise and truth will prevail and He will not leave me or fail me no matter how the storm rages. I also noticed that, for the first time, I could see from the ground that the rainbow did not seem to be coming from BEHIND the landscape - I could see faintly the colors against the ground beneath the horizon, which was strange. It reminded me that I once saw a rainbow from the air. A rainbow is actually not an arc but a complete circle, like a halo. It was so amazing. And THAT reminded me that God's goodness, faithfulness, and promises are eternal - they have no beginning or end, like the rainbow. And, like the rainbow, we have a difficult time comprehending that because most of the time we cannot see the complete picture. Like seeing a rainbow from an airplane, it takes a new and rare perspective to see things as they really are.

Lastlly, as a I passed Castle Rock, I could see in my rearview mirror the bright rainbow behind me now, huge against the very dark sky. I was past the storm and the sun was out at this point, and it reminded me that even as the storms of life (how lame sounding! ahhh!) pass by and we are brought through them with the assurance of God's promise, His promises remain... they do not fade with the storm. But, the glory of God's promises can be much more difficult to remember when the storm is past and especially when the sun is shining brilliantly. It's easy to enjoy the perfect weather and forget that we need God even when things are going well.

Oh, how I need my savior now more than ever... He must be my strength as the sun shines brighter and brighter! Only with my Lord can the sun shine anyway. I pray He will bless me with sunshine and storms... and rainbows...