When a smile is a rainbow

Have you ever laughed and cried at the same time? Yesterday, our 2 year old was crying hysterically at I-don't-remember-what. She was wailing, tears rolling down her cheeks...I ended up fixing the problem very fast and she began laughing. Her wails from the crying turned into the sound of laughter. Right then I looked at her and thought...a rainbow. There she was laughing while her eyes were still welled up with tears, one or two still escaped down her cheek. I thought that is just like a rainbow, for it only comes out when the sun shines through the rain. My daughter's smile was like a rainbow through her tears. She had forgotten her sadness and was rejoicing.

When God gave us the very first rainbow during the flood with Noah, of course it served as a reminder to mankind that He would never again destroy the Earth with a flood. But even deeper than that, think of the emotions the Lord must have felt during the time that rainbow was visible to Noah and his family, the only people alive on the planet. What if the Lord just reminisced for a minute while the first rainbow was formed. He might have remembered His righteous anger at the sin-sick world. The disgust He must have felt toward the human race. He might have remembered how Noah responded at the command to build this massive boat, which took about 70 years or more to build. And maybe he would have been humored a little when He called all of the animals to come to the boat and to see Noah and the family's response watching in awe. But what about those who died in the flood? As the Lord remembered them, I'm sure a deep mourning and sadness welled up inside. He knew each of them and loved each of them with the same love He has for you and me now. How it must have broken His heart to bring that rain and know the fate of their eternity...what a weight...what a sad day for the Lord. At the same time feeling such sadness for those lost, but such unexplainable joy and happiness for those who chose to heed the warnings of the coming rain.

The rainbow it came as a promise. A promise produced by the sun pressing through the rain...and on the Lord's face, a smile pressing through His pain.