Yesterday I wrote about appreciation in my blog.  Today I want to talk about the concept of looking for those rainbows in our lives.  I have been here in the desert for nearly 3 years and with the weather the way it is here, I don’t get to see rainbows too often.  Generally we see the rainbows after the storm has passed and the sun is beginning to shine through the clouds.  As a metaphor for our life, sometimes after the stormy times in our lives we see the rainbow, or the purpose for those trials and defining moments.  Last week I heard a gentleman speak about aids and he shared that he used to hate (I should say HATE) Aids.  Aids took his brother away several years ago.  But as he shared he said he no longer hates aids because if it wasn’t for aids he would not have met so many wonderful people who have come into his life because of this topic.  He found the rainbow after the storm.  If you are in the midst of a storm, you may not see the rainbow yet, but know that the rainbow is there waiting to emerge.  This morning we had a wonderful tiny storm.  Some dark clouds loomed over the mountains and maybe 10 drops of rain fell, but enough to smell the wonderful aroma of desert turned wet.  I shared with my men’s group last week that when I first visited the desert 3 1/2 years ago I arrived in the evening.  It wasn’t until the very next day that I opened the door of the hotel room and saw the beautiful flowers, mountains and blue sky.  I imagined this was how Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz must have felt when she opened the door and was now in the land of Oz.  Everything went from black and white to color!  My life has taken on beautiful colors that I have never seen before until I made my move here.  Sure I have had plenty of storms during these three years, but the rainbows have been worth it all. 

So today, take some time to look at your storms in your life and marvel at the beautiful rainbows that have emerged because of those storms. 

Let me leave you with the lyrics from Somewhere Over the Rainbow as sung by Judy Garland

Somewhere over the rainbow
Way up high,
There’s a land that I heard of
Once in a lullaby.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Skies are blue,
And the dreams that you dare to dream
Really do come true.

Someday I’ll wish upon a star
And wake up where the clouds are far
Behind me.
Where troubles melt like lemon drops
Away above the chimney tops
That’s where you’ll find me.

Somewhere over the rainbow
Bluebirds fly.
Birds fly over the rainbow.
Why then, oh why can’t I?

If happy little bluebirds fly
Beyond the rainbow
Why, oh why can’t I?

(Who would have guessed that Somewhere Over the Rainbow would be in Palm Desert, CA!)