“Mine eyes have seen the glory…”

A beautiful fire rainbow appeared over the South Carolina sky this past week, on Sunday August 16, 2015. What a beautiful reminder of God’s covenant with us, made with Noah after the great flood.

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.”

Genesis 6:12-16

What a beautiful reminder that rainbows in the sky mean something. They’re not just pretty phenomena created by light passing through droplets of water.

Science can explain away whatever they want, but they are a sign that God is living and breathing and watching over us and communicating to us that He loves us and He keeps his promises…..and in turn, we should keep ours.

And isn’t it fitting that the fire rainbow in the image looks like a dove? The symbol of life after the flood?! That is such beautiful symbolism. Does it look like a dove to anyone else? That is the first thing I saw when I saw these images coming in from this past Sunday.

“When the dove returned to him in the evening, there in its beak was a freshly plucked olive leaf! Then Noah knew that the water had receded from the earth.”

Genesis 8:11

My final thoughts after seeing the dove-shaped fire rainbow. If you grew up in the church like I did, you’ve learned your fair share of hymns. There are some really great oldies that just warm my heart. And when I saw this image, this one came to mind.

Published in 1862 in the Atlantic Monthly, written by Julia Ward Howe.

Sing along if you know it…:)