Colors of Grace

     This week I have been on my annual planning retreat, and I am blessed to have parishioners/friends who allow me to use their beautiful home on Smith Mountain Lake.  This is a time to get away from everything and focus on God’s vision for the Church in the coming year.  During the week I do a lot of reading, praying, and visioning, returning home with scriptures and sermon topics/outlines for the coming year.  On the first day, I spend time just being, and I read a good book.  The actual planning begins on the second day.
    When I arrived this time, I followed the normal plan, only I found a great deal on a camping hammock, which I hung under the covered porch overlooking the lake.  I spent some time reading in that hammock, and found myself waking up after a brief nap wondering what time it was and where I was.  But when I woke up, I put my book aside and simply looked around.
    Now you have to remember, I’m on a mountain lake in Virginia in October, which means that the colors are brilliant.  The trees lining the lake are changing and very few have fallen, so when the lake is calm, which is often, it acts like a mirror to the sky.  The rich oranges, reds, and greens reflect upon the deep green and clear water below, bringing about a tapestry of beauty.
    As I said, when I woke up I began to look around and notice the brilliance of the colors around me.  At the same time I looked up to the sky only to notice that the usual brightness of the sun was hidden behind darkening clouds.  The threat of rain was evident, almost to the point of ominous, and something inside begin to reflect upon the juxtaposition of such images.
    Colors of grace and darkening skies.  Bursting hues from leaves and black clouds shrouding the great light source.  I wondered which would win out.  Would the winds and rain place a pall over the colors and dampen the mood of the day?  What would the day bring?  And then I saw from the supine position of the hammock, the promise.

    The light refracted from behind the clouds to form a rainbow.  The spectrum of light found a way to expose the glory and promise of God.  Darkness would not win the day.  Instead, God’s light shone around the threat and the promise was fulfilled again.

    Early in the book of Genesis, there is a dreadful story of a flood and God destroying almost all of the inhabits of the earth, (not a story for the light-hearted nor for children).  But for one family whom God had instructed to build an Ark, this was God’s great ‘do-over.’  But when Noah and the family all made it to shore after a long and smelly time, God promised never to do it again.  And the sign of that promise was the rainbow.

    Everyone loves to see a rainbow.  There is something exciting about seeing nature’s brilliant colors displayed as a banner across the sky.  It makes children giddy and adults smile, and it makes believers remember.
    You see, those colors are colors of Grace.  They are a promise from God to us, that no matter how dark the days, no matter the destruction, no matter the flood of tears, God is with us, never to forsake us.  They are colors of God’s love, that when we see them, we remember, give thanks, and hold onto the promise for all generations.

When have you experienced dark times?  Where are the threats right now in your life?  Look to the skies and remember...