Rainbows

For my birthday, I got a rainbow.

We were just getting ready to go out shopping when there was a sudden, intense rainfall that I really didn't want to venture out in. It was a classic sudden downpour that stopped us in our tracks and forced us to stand still and wait. And when it began to peter out, something told me I should look out to the East.

There was a beautiful, bright, complete double rainbow. Prettiest I've ever seen.

I called all my children, and as we stood there gazing at it, I realized that the rainbow didn't just follow the cold, uncomfortable, unexpected, intense rainfall that had interrupted my plans. It happened because of the rain. In fact, the beauty I was gazing on was impossible without having first waited through the rain.

Perhaps the beauty (and blessings) come because of the trials, not merely as compensation for having suffered through them.