Personal Rainbows

We all know where rainbows come from, don’t we? Water + sun=…well, yeah. Usually, you have to wait through a whole lot of rain to see a rainbow. Every once in a while you’ll see a small, light-colored rainbow after a little storm, but usually you only find the brightest rainbows after the hardest storms.

Let’s consider the small successes the lighter rainbows. They still make you pause and take in the quiet beauty, still give you joy and make you smile. They’re there to shore you up and help you keep on the right path until you’re able to reach that bigger, brighter rainbow. You know the one—it has a treasure at the end of it. We all want that rainbow. And we know that in order to find it, we have to endure a pounding, torrential storm.

But when the storm actually hits, we tend to forget all about the rainbow, and instead focus on the rain. We run, we hide, we seek shelter. We do everything we can to avoid being drowned. Some people do drown. And some people run so far and so fast, that they never even see the small rainbows, because they’re too busy running from the rain. But those of us who are willing to stick it out, to huddle together and wait out the storm—we’re the ones who will find that giant rainbow someday.

And then there are the go-getters who aren’t willing to wait for the storm to come to us. Instead, we know exactly where to find our rainbow, and we go after it. Climb a mountain, swim through a lake, wade through a stream and under a waterfall where we again, almost drown. But if we can make it through, we’re guaranteed to see the most spectacular rainbow ever.

Whether we wait for the ginormous storm, or go to the effort to find a waterfall—the end result gives us the same amount of joy. And hopefully, a wealth of treasure, too.

Here’s hoping we all have the endurance needed to make it to our personal rainbows!