Have you ever felt like there was a "sign" placed in front of you to let you know that you are honoured at that moment or that you are on the right track? I have. Several times.
In the past 6 months, I have witnessed 4 of these "signs" all at integral moments. The first two were within a month of one another and were rainbows. These colourful occurrences followed special moments with our family. And after such a rocky year, it was almost like God telling us that he keeps his promise and would keep our family from harm and would make us stronger. (Sound familiar?) The third and fourth happened within two days of one another and they were the dogs - a sun dog and a moon dog. The sun dog was different than the rainbows as it didn't seem to be so much about our family directly as it was our finances and the shepherding of said finances. We are presently in the middle of making some big changes. And the moon dog capped a rare eventful and romantic date night last evening.
The first "sign" occurred on September 8th, 2010 on the day of our vow renewal. After the ceremony, we headed to Horseshoe Bay where we were graced with a lasting rainbow. It hung in the sky, unchanged for close to a half an hour. Incredible. We stood in awe for what seems like forever, soaking in all the colours and the beauty of it. Feeling at peace, we continued on in our celebration and played in the waves some more. I couldn't help but to keep checking ever minute or two to make sure it was still there. And it would was. Seeing it there provided a sense of God's contentment with us and the promise of a new beginning. Isn't it the same symbol He used with Noah to show His promise? That's all I could think about as I watched the kids play and splash in the turning waves, laughing as they are bowled over. Sigh. I could live in that memory forever. Time stood still. Joy abounded. God smiled.
The second "sign" was a different, yet it existed in similar tone. A double rainbow, (yes, a double rainbow,) was spotted on Thanksgiving weekend in October while on a family getaway to Cape Breton. It was the first time away since we returned from Bermuda. We had been going non-stop with our daily lives and hadn't had a chance to reconnect as a family. We were longing for some quiet time away. The phone wouldn't ring. Friends wouldn't be knocking at the door. Demands of work would become a faint whisper. And focus once again would be placed on the family, drawing upon the blessings God had provided us. All of us were enjoying each other as a new and improved family.
What amazed me about this rainbow in Cape Breton is that we could literally see the beginning and the end of it. It arched over the Alexander Graham Bell Museum we were visiting. It seemed to come out of the tall grasses from the homes below and span into the pine forest just above the museum. According to wikipedia, a double rainbow occurs when light from the sun reflects twice, instead of once, inside water droplets. Between the two rainbows is a very dark area. This band is dark because "while light below the primary rainbow comes from droplet reflection, and light above the upper (secondary) rainbow also comes from droplet reflection, there is no mechanism for the region between a double rainbow to show any light reflected from water drops, at all." Interesting. I never knew that. To me, it makes the "sign" even more poignant as we were continuing to make our family stronger. With a dark band between the two arcs, it is like a solidity of our family, not letting anything in between that could challenge our new, more solid foundation. I felt blessed when I saw it as if I was being given a personal note from God telling me how proud he was of us and we were loved. In that moment, I was given the pat on the back or that gentle shoulder squeeze I would get from my dad when he was at loss for words but donned an endless smile when he was overcome with pride for my accomplishments.
Wednesday, we were coming home from the bank and a sun dog was just "there," right in front of us as we drove on the highway. My husband wasn't sure what it was. He hadn't seen a sun dog before. I told him with confidence what it was we were looking at. This time, the "sign" comes at a time when we are making some big financial decisions and creating new goals for our family.
A sun dog is witnessed when plate-shaped hexagonal ice crystals are in high and cold cirrus clouds or, during very cold weather when ice crystals called diamond dust drift in the air at low levels. (It was BITTER COLD WEDNESDAY.) Ice crystals act as prisms as they bend the light rays. Often, as these ice crystals move through the atmosphere, they can become vertically aligned. This leads to the sunlight being refracted horizontally causing sun dogs.
WOW! I still am in awe that I have been able to take these sights in and at such important times in our life as a family. Chills are sent down my back just thinking of what is to come!
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