by Winn Mete

Created on: June 11, 2008

Catching the Colors

"Look up there," said Matthew, pointing toward the sky through the window of the backseat of my little car.
Naturally, everyone including me looked in the direction he was pointing; not the best idea for me considering I was driving. I'm not sure what surprised me more; the incredibly vivid hues of the most vibrantly colored rainbow I'd ever seen, or that it was grand enough to catch the attention of my 19-year-old son. Matt's a survival specialist in the Air Force; a job in which he generally spends more time trying to outwit nature than admiring it.

After 12 years of living in Kodiak, Alaska, where it rains more than 200 days a year and rainbows are as common as mosquitoes, I tended to briefly admire God's colored displays with little thought and return to whatever I was doing. Several months ago, I had left my island home and moved to eastern Washington, the end of the high desert where rain and rainbows are seldom seen.
I concentrated on keeping the car in its proper lane and the rainbow continued to capture the attention of everyone else in the car. "Look at that," said my friend Ronni, sitting next to me, "you can see absolutely every color in the spectrum. I've never seen one where every color is so bright."
Matthew craned his neck. "You can see the entire arch. Look at that.." he drew an arch in the air with his finger. "There's the end of it over there," he said pointing out the opposite window where his girlfriend Chelsea was sitting. I glanced the other way; sure enough, there was the entire arch, from one end to the other.
"There's a second one," Chels said excitedly. We all looked at a sight none of us had ever witnessed. Beside the rainbow with it's brilliant colors, was a second, completely formed shadowy twin. Though exposing as many colors, the twin was shrouded in a watery mist, giving it the surreal quality of a Monet painting. As I returned my attention to the road, I noticed a lot of other drivers also looking upward.
We had been to the mall and didn't have a camera with us. Of course as citizens of the 21st century, all four of us had camera phones. I turned into the neighborhood where I lived and pulled over next to a field just a few blocks shy of home so we could get out and admire the spectacle properly. We took a few inadequate pix and with both arches still in full color, I decided to dash home for my camera and attempt some photos that would do the display justice. Half a block behind us, another car had pulled over and a woman, cell phone pointed skyward, was also trying to capture the colors.
I pulled into the drive and left the car running as I dashed inside and grabbed my camera. From my house, the view of rainbow was obstructed so I knew I had to go back to where I had pulled over only a moment ago to get the best shots. It took me just a few seconds to retrieve camera and get back to my car.

Why is it that God's most amazing gifts to us are so fleeting? The fire of first love. A baby's toothless smile. A rainbow.
I think He bestows His most precious gifts temporarily so that we must truly grasp the moment for what it is. The event passes quickly, but the memories are stored forever in our hearts and our minds. We don't need cameras to recall that at some point in our lives, something amazing and wonderful occurred. God gives us the ability to see the colors and feel the love from within when we need it most.
I backed out of the drive in record time. At the end of the block, I searched upward. There was absolutely no trace of any color in the sky.

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