My relationship with the rainbow is a long and friendly one. As a child I was simply gobsmacked that all those colours could just be in the sky randomly (at least thats what my childlike mind thought). I was always really happy to see the rainbow colours in bubbles too even now I’m happy to blow a bubble or two for my toddler, even as an adult the rainbow colours are still mighty fascinating to me.
Physics class in secondary school was the first and last explanation I ever got as to the actual phenomena of a rainbow and how by definition it is simply “scattered white light” (and sunday-school too I suppose if you add Noah ark). Anyways I had always loved the rainbow and would be happy to see it anytime it showed but asides that I did not think much about the rainbow till the year I got married.
The year was 2016 and the drums of war in were being beaten. Nnamdi Kanu had returned to Nigeria and was agitating for the secession of Biafra (this is what caused the Nigerian civil war in 1967) so this wasn’t an idle threat and the war drums were steadily getting louder.
Ordinarily these things didn’t matter but I was in a constant state of panic ‘cos the country was quite tense at this time with threats flying and people actually getting killed. Meanwhile here I was a girl from the “Nigerian side” about to wed a man from the “Biafran side”. I was terribly afraid for so many reasons and whilst a lot of people weren’t as worried as I was, wedding jitters didn’t help my anxiety. And so for many nights I couldn’t sleep and on one particularly bad night I prayed and asked God for a sign.
The next morning when I woke up I felt an urgency to check instagram and the first image I saw was a rainbow and I still remember the relief I felt. I knew God was telling me all was and would be well. Many times after that I have seen a rainbow in the midst of chaos. It has become sort of a sign God gives me regularly; from when I had miscarriages, to the birth of my daughter and even the recent coronavirus pandemic, there has always been a rainbow to assure me and I am so grateful to God.
Genesis 9:13-15 …”I have set my bow in the cloud, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and the earth. When I bring clouds over the earth and the bow is seen in the clouds, I will remember my covenant that is between me and you and every living creature of all flesh. And the waters shall never again become a flood to destroy all flesh”…
What is your covenant with God like? Has it always reassured you? I’d love to know.
Images/Photos
- www.kaiserdurms.de
- www.google.com
- www.dreamstine.com
- www.dearblackgirl-wordpress.com
- www.pinterest.com/genevaB.
- www.sciencenewsforstudents.org
happy I wrote this