Over the rainbow.

When I was a boy we lived opposite a large park, bordered along one entire side by a river that effectively split our neighborhood in two. The park was a massive playground for my older sister,  brother and I. We had many childish adventures there-fighting imaginary pirates on our river rafts, flying home-made kites on windy summer days, spearing eels in the reedy waters of the river banks, building forts and tree-huts in the willows that lined the river.

On one occasion our fun was interrupted by a summer storm that forced us inside. We watched the lightening and giggled with nervous excitement as peels of thunder rippled across the darkened sky.

The storm quickly abated, and its passing was heralded by a large double rainbow that "touched down" on the far side of the park, resting right on the edge of the riverbank.

My sister-ever the romantic- speculated that there was always a pot of gold at the end of every rainbow, and why, she asked, shouldn't we be the ones to go and find it.

Off we ran, oblivious to the soaking grass, right across the park to the spot were we thought the rainbow had grounded. To our absolute delight we found colors seeping out of the ground, all the colors of the rainbow were there, right where we had seen it touch down!

We scrambled around, clearing away the grass and dirt, uncovering more and more color, eventually exposing an area of several square feet of solid colors. My sister expanded her search a little, now fully confident that the promised pot of gold was waiting to be uncovered. Our parents, who had been watching our antics from afar, wandered over, just as my sister let out a sequel of delight.

My sister stood up, triumphantly holding a little silver locket, dangling from a golden chain. We all were delighted and spent the better part of the afternoon looking for more treasure. We found nothing else, and my always practical father deflated our joy a little by pointing out that the "colors" we had found was in fact old paint that had leached out of rusted paint tins that had been buried long ago when the park was a rubbish dump, however he had no sensible explanation as to just how the obviously valuable locket that my sister had found had been buried there.

My sister still has the locket and the story of its discovery has lost none of its marvel over the ensuing 60 or so years. I stayed with my now 75 year old sister and husband recently, and I reminded her of the event, she found her jewellery box and and proudly show me the locket. Memories....

Whenever I see a rainbow I am reminded of our discovery of the colors running from heaven to earth. To many a rainbow is little more than a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. Yet rainbows touch a basic chord with most of us; there are many songs about rainbows, and the hope offered by them. From Kermit The Frog, to Miley Cyrus and Elvis, we are all looking for that pot 'o gold.

 To believers a rainbow is a tangible sign of The Creator's promise, recorded for all time in Genesis.  And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. Never again will the waters become a flood to destroy all life. Whenever the rainbow appears in the clouds, I will see it and remember the everlasting covenant between God and all living creatures of every kind on the earth.” So God said to Noah, “This is the sign of the covenant I have established between me and all life on the earth.” Genesis 9:12-17 NIV