Iris Underwood: Honest Living: Double portion
I awoke this past Sunday morning to a glow of sunlight. A beam streamed from the adjacent bathroom window, through the open door, and into my bedroom.
Having lived in this house 30 years, I’m somewhat familiar with nature’s habits upon my little patch of land, and my neighbors’.
Yet, a certain quality I could not define pulsed within the glow, compelling me to throw back the covers and hasten to the source of light.
There, the largest, most brilliant rainbow I’ve witnessed in my lifetime arched over the earth to the west, spanning south to north.
Or vice versa.
Having vacationed in Hawaii and witnessed many spectacular rainbows with my late husband, I must confess this rainbow ranked superior.
And I didn’t have to leave my house to lay eyes upon it.
Not only did the rainbow’s seven spectrums of color radiate immensely, but another bow arched beneath it, albeit with the seven colors very faint.
I’d never seen a double rainbow in my lifetime — even in Hawaii.
So, I rested my elbows on the windowsill and admired the sign of God’s covenant with Noah and all living creatures to never again destroy the earth with a flood.
And those creatures include me, my family, neighbors, you, and our beloved animals, dear reader.
I confess, I’ve devoted little time to rainbow research throughout my life, so pardon my ignorance of the scientific causes of the rainbow and its behavior.
To summarize, the spectrum of seven colors is caused by the reaction of light and water.
However, I may offer unequivocally that I’ve never witnessed a rainbow this close to me. It seemed touchable.
The predictable red spectral band arched at the top, wider and more brilliant than I’d ever seen before. Oh yes, for scientific reasons beyond my understanding, red must lead the other colors.
Orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet followed in decreasing bands, or wavelengths.
I’ve since read, “This sequence of seven colors has become well-established in scientific sources, and you may notice not all rainbows clearly show all seven distinct colors.”
I carried this remarkable experience with me as I drove to church, the double rainbows fading by the moment.
Nonetheless, the vision settled into memory, a companion to those rainbows from travels the world over.
Yet, this double rainbow came to my home — a double portion of God’s promise.
When the young man greeted me at the church’s door, I asked, “Did you see the double rainbow this morning?”
“No,” he replied.
Yet, imagine my joy when later our pastor asked the congregation, “Did you see the double rainbow this morning?”
“Yes!” replied a good number of us.
He answered, “I stepped outside onto my driveway for the newspaper, and into a rainbow!”
Dear reader, a double portion, indeed.
Yet, I would like to know why God favors red for the dominant band of the seven spectrums.
Why not indigo or violet, the most common color of the iris flower, as the dominant rainbow spectrum?
Hmm … on second thought, I’d better not mess with red.
