Genesis 9:13
I have set my rainbow in the clouds. It is a sign of my covenant with you and with all the earth.
The day of my friends', Emily and Joe, wedding rehearsal I checked the weather. Instead of a full, bright yellow ball of sun, there was a grey cloud. That wasn't the problem. I looked over at the next day. The weather app depicted a dark cloud with rain pouring out of it. 95% chance of rain.
They say rain on your wedding is good luck.
95% chance of rain quickly became 100% chance of scrambling to find umbrellas so we could get the bride to the venue on the day of the wedding. Pouring. And an outdoor wedding quickly became an inside of green house wedding. It was still beautiful. A wedding isn't about a venue or a dress or any of the other things people stress over. A wedding is about two people standing up and making a covenant to love, care for, and protect each other for the rest of their lives. Anything less than that is not a wedding and it won't be a marriage.
During the rehearsal, my friend Amy turned to the collective us, lined up waiting to rehearse our walk in, and said, "if it has to rain tomorrow, what I would wish is that it would drizzle, then the sun would come out and there would be a rainbow."
I agreed.
I like rainbows. I like what they represent. The bible talks about the first rainbow being God's bow hung up in the sky as a promise. God was finished trying to destroy humanity, that God would redeem us and not destroy us. God placed a rainbow in the clouds as a reminder that God keeps promises. Not a reminder for God. God does not need to be reminded. A reminder to us. God keeps promises.
As I sat in the reception, going over my toast, I caught a glimpse of the door to the parking lot.
"AMY!" I screeched something unintelligible and scurried outside.
"What?"
I spun around a few times. It was still raining and the sun was out. There had to be a rainbow. There were too many buildings. I went out to the other side of the reception hall, scanning the field. This time Amy was close behind me.
"Do you see it?"
"Not yet. It has to be here, that's how science works."
The last time I searched for a rainbow was while I was in Peru, at Machu Picchu. It had been pouring rain that day too and everyone in my tour group was concerned it would ruin our only chance to visit one of the wonders of the world. I declared on the bus ride up the mountain that it was going to be rainbow weather. When the rainbow appeared over the valley I remember starting to cry. A few months earlier, when my finances were hard to manage and I was trying to plan surgery for a chronic pain issue. I felt very strongly that God was giving me permission to go on that trip, that it was going to be important. I needed to be reminded that God keeps other promises too. The rainbow appearing was that reminder.
God keeps promises.
There it was. Over the field. Faint and distant but there. A rainbow. Amy got her wish. She took a picture and brought it in to show Emily and Joe. A rainbows on their wedding day.
When I see rainbows, I think about my trip to Peru and how God promised not to destroy me but redeem me. I hope that when Emily and Joe see a rainbow they think about their wedding and the covenant they made with one another.
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