We were driving home and I was in the front passenger
seat. Passing an entrance to the mall on
the other side of the street, we stopped long enough at our own traffic light
for me to be enthralled by the rainbow of colors splashed across the usual
starkly black and white directional sign at the mall’s entrance. Soft colors, but vibrantly alive. I literally wanted to linger a bit, but our
traffic light changed its own color and as we moved forward with the green
light, I realized the colors on the directional sign truly had been “just” a
rainbow. On a warm sunny day in southern
California, I really don’t know the science behind the rainbow I saw, but I was
blessed. It was a rainbow in an
unexpected place, and I contemplated how often God gives us rainbows when we
least expect them – the friend who calls
or gives a hug, interacting with a caring staff when you would have preferred
to not even be in need of their services, the one you love making forward steps
when it would be so easy to do otherwise, reminders from those who are praying,
a relationship healed or maybe just begun, a few extra dollars, a special
sale. Beauty from ashes and
brokenness. Rainbows. Not even expected, but given.
And then there is the story of the professor who gave his
class of students a sheet of white paper, a blank paper except for the singular
black dot, not very large, but obviously apparent. One small black dot. Lots of white. The professor asked his students to write
about what they saw. Every student
focused on the black dot. No one wrote
about the dominating whiteness of its background. After reading all of the written responses,
the professor explained the parallel of what they had done, to life, explaining
that we are surrounded by so much that is good, so much that gives us reason to
celebrate, to be thankful, and yet so often, it is the black dot that consumes
our thinking, our feelings, and our energy.
For me, the concept is understood in considering mirrors and
windows. Life happens, and life can be
hard, and even tragic. I can allow all
those raw and harsh realities of life, or even just the somewhat confusing
ones, to be a mirror of reflection, and when life is reflected back to me, I
see my own image, an image caught up in self, disappointment, and a diminishing
capacity for a godly response. Or, I can
allow life to simply frame the window through which I focus on my God – not
denying reality, but allowing my reality to draw me to my God, secure in His
love, dependent on His grace, waiting and watching for Him to unfold my
tomorrows.
Within it all, I have choices to make. Look for the rainbows. Be consumed by the black dot. Find myself in a mirror. Look through the window and see my God. Ann Voskamp challenges us to find 1000 gifts
that God has given us. Write them
down. One at a time. Short, brief.
Words are secondary. The heart is
what is most engaged. Doing it, I find
the rainbows and I look through the window.
– Bev
(Related Bible reading: Psalm 131:1-3)
