Storms 'n rainbows

This evening was one of those weird weather nights. It had gotten dark before sunset and started raining steadily. I saw a flash of lightning and heard thunder so I went to have a look out the window. The sky had turned a strange orangey/yellowy colour and the air had become very still after having been quite windy. I always think 'tornado' when I see such things.

But as I looked out my east facing window I realized a rainbow was appearing. I went outside, camera in hand, and stood on the front porch.

In the midst of the lightning... the thunder.....and the rain....

the sun was shining in the west......

while a rainbow shone in the eastern sky.

It's confusing to see lightning, rain, sunshine, and rainbow all at once!

It brought my mind back to a weird feeling last summer when I was pulling some weeds in the garden. It was very hot in the blazing sun, but it suddenly started raining in the midst of the sunshine beating down on me. I stood up and looked for the cloud that was raining on me, and there wasn't one anywhere to be seen! The sun was still brightly shining. I was very puzzled, but welcomed the cooling spray....wherever it was coming from! (No, my husband was not spraying me with the hose....it really was rain!).

If you've flown in a plane, you will also love that exhilarating feeling of leaving the ground on a dreary, rainy day and suddenly bursting through the clouds to see that the sun was there all along. You leave the dreariness below and rise above to be warmed and heartened by the sun's rays.

It's a gentle reminder to me that even when the winds are swirling, the rain beats down as the storm rages, and that's all I can seem to see..... the sun really is still there....I just can't always see it at that moment.

Sometimes waiting for the breakthrough from the dark clouds can seem like forever. But don't ever let go of hope. A rainbow doesn't follow every storm...but like the sun, hope is always there. One day you will rise above it all and be warmed and heartened.

(Here's an account of the most frightening storm I've experienced.)