Sunglasses

It was an overcast day and each family was kind of on their own schedule and Jennifer,my oldest daughter and her group, and Mel and I headed to the beach.  It was an overcast day, pleasant and a good day to dodge too much sun.  But as the morning progressed, the dark clouds began heading our way. but There weren’t too many of them, and thunder and lightning were not an issue,  so we decided to ride them out. The ominous clouds didn’t interfere with kids play whatsoever but the adults chose to hunker down in the lounge chairs that were set up to strategically block most of the winds and quick rains.  And everyone was happy.  

The rains cleared in no time and and left cool breezes to offset the humidity.  And as we were regrouping, Jennifer said, mom look can you see the rainbow. And I looked but could not find it.  She said put on your sunglasses, and sure enough there was a faint and very beautiful rainbow that God carefully placed in the midst of the left over clouds.  But the deal was you could only see it with glasses, I guess somehow the tinted lens gave definition to something that could not be otherwise.  

Surely you know where I am going with this! Dark and ominous clouds do loom about our lives.  Sometimes they bring unexpected storms that are accompanied by thunder and lightening while other times they just bring on rains that keep on moving and only leave behind a light shower that is easily managed.  We have all been there and experienced both but when those rains do turn into storms, we do have to take cover, serious cover to protect us from the continuous series of pelting circumstances, and we need help, support,  protection, guidance and hope that one day we will see a rainbow after the storm.    

Our meager umbrellas can not begin to keep us safe and warm, only God in his magnificence has the ability to shelter us from the storm or keep us calm and unruffled in the midst of it. A large umbrella has eight points that connect the metal frames and that create the canopy that we use to shelter us from a storm. If you consider eight points that God uses to keep us sheltered from the storm, what would you say?  May I suggest the following: Grace,  Strength,  Wisdom, Truth, Peace, Love, Forgiveness and Faith. We are covered and protected by the frame of God’s unyielding umbrella, whenever  we run to him in expectation, and in confidence. When the clouds begin rolling in and when the rains begin to come down God will welcome us into the safety of his arms and cover us in protection under the umbrella of his authority.   He knows how long the rains will last and how hard it is to weather the storms, and he will keep us safe and secured as we hunker down under his authority. And hope will be found in the rainbow that shines when the rains have past.   

I know this will sound corny, but in order to see the rainbow, I had to put on my sunglasses.  And I think that so many times in order to have a cleared look at God, we have to put on our SONglasses.  For when we seek to find God and see His works, we have to look through the lens of his precious son, Jesus.  For sometimes His works are clear reflections of his grace while other times we have to look hard to find a faint answer to a bold question.  

I have come to find that sometimes his answers lie not in obvious but in the intangibles that we can only recognize through prayer as we look through the lens of Jesus’ perspective.  God is all about making us dependent on Him, building us into the very person that he has called us to be, and teaching us to love and respect HIm and his authority. There is not a storm that has come our way that God has not offered His shelter. And somehow, someway, one day there will be a faint rainbow that will be unveiled when the clouds begin to float away.  But in order to see the rainbow, we have to be looking through the Songlasses. 

As beautiful as rainbows are, they only come after a rain. And a rainbow is made of light refractions that bounce off of left over mist of the rains.  Whatever rains have come and gone in your life, there are always leftovers.  Leftover lessons that God is revealing as he helps us to shine through the clouds of our darkness.   And if we allow God’s light to shine upon those fragments of leftover rains, it is then that we begin to reflect the colors of God's love, faithfulness and grace.

Genesis 9:13-15

¹³ I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. ¹⁴ Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, ¹⁵ 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.

Dear Lord, Thank you for the visual reminder of your faithfulness after the rains.  I know this was a sign to Noah that you would never again flood the world, but it is also a sign to all mankind of your promises and grace.  For after rains there is a rainbow waiting to be reflected.  May we learn to look through all our storms with songlasses and march on in confidence, knowing that you always are there to guide us and strengthen us, as long as we stay under the authority of your eight point umbrella.  Amen  

Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!