There are two types of November autumnal weather, and here in this corner of the northern hemisphere they've been neatly interspersed with each other. At times, like today, the sun slants and dazzles, turning autumn leaves into fire and translucent gold, while the unbroken blueness of the sky throws every colour into sharp, brilliant relief. And then there are days like yesterday, when the leaden greyness of the sky is unremittingly heavy with rain, and fallen leaves squelch and glue themselves to pavements. And of course, this being the UK, there are times when we experience both extremes on the same day...
Within minutes the rain had intensified, turning suddenly into a heavy downpour. And something made me glance up from my laptop... and there, stretching high over L's bend, radiant and shimmering, and eclipsing the deluge... not one, but... a double rainbow! God's fidelity and eternal covenant kept: his promise of new life, doubly so; breaking through the greyness, linking heaven and earth as it outshone the torrent. And there was blessing in this sight, and the stirring of quiet joy, and hope, lifting my heart well beyond the emails I had been working through.
The other day, as I was working from home, on a mostly dry, weakly sunny day, I became aware that the sky was darkening, well ahead of when the sun would be expected to set. There was a whiteness to the few rays of sun which still struggled to cast some light, before surrendering to the gathering clouds, and the softly falling rain. And there was something indefinable yet perceptible about the quality of the non-light - I could not yet call it darkness - which made me think: We're going to have a rainbow...
In the road, a few drenched pedestrians scurried past, heads bent under ineffectual hoods and umbrellas, completely unaware of the beauty arching above them, and certainly unable to pause and admire it. This would become possible a few minutes later, as the rain softened; but this was also when the rainbow began to fade and disappear into the now-pale blue sky. The sun, freshly emboldened, began to shine on darkly slickened stones... and I... I only knew there had been a rainbow - a double rainbow - because I had looked up, and seen its glory.
And I returned to my laptop with much to ponder; much to deepen my hope: a rainbow shimmering through the heaviest rain, whether seen or unseen; God's faithful, enduring love, in the hardest of times, whether we recognise its signs or not...
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