Walking into the Sunrise and Following the Rainbow

Walking down Laurel Oak and into the sunrise (7:07 AM)

This morning, Scout and I walked into this sunrise,paused to give thanks, turned around, and then followed the faintest of rainbows all the way home.

The rainbow was one of those watery, ethereal renditions that hangs on the edge of perceptibility. I enjoy such rainbows because they require a combination of sight, searching, belief and imagination or they slip away altogether.

Such rainbows are a lot like faith in the day to day. I have no doubt that God is real; but that reality is often just a faint presence that hangs on the edge of perceptibility. The light - always there - is easier to make out sometimes in the presence of the storm. The rain brings out its color.

I found, this morning, that I was able to see the rainbow for as long as I kept my eyes focused on the great arc of light's witness to the world. When I looked away it was very hard to find again. It's a lot like that with God. I like the way Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 5, "We walk by faith and not by sight." And then, "We must keep our eyes on Jesus, who leads us and makes our faith complete." (Hebrews 12:2)

So this morning I walked into the sunrise for my devotional inspiration, and now I am (still) walking into the rainbow. I'm working hard to keep my eyes on Jesus, yes, but I'm also confident that the light of his love and grace is more real even than the sunlight that illuminates this world and is the source of all energy and life.

In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it.There was a man sent from God whose name was John. He came as a witness to testify concerning that light, so that through him all might believe. He himself was not the light; he came only as a witness to the light. The true light that gives light to everyone was coming into the world. He was in the world, and though the world was made through him, the world did not recognize him. He came to that which was his own, but his own did not receive him. Yet to all who did receive him, to those who believed in his name, he gave the right to become children of God— John 1:4-12

Grace and Peace, and Light and Life - DEREK