Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.
Psalm 30:5 NKJV
As we pored over the maps, our excitement grew. This would be our greatest adventure yet! My husband and I had decided to take a long bicycle trip. We’d be pedaling 1,400 miles across on third of the United States. Usually, summer meant continuing education classes, but this summer we opted for a different education. We biked all day and camped most nights, though occasionally we stayed at a ahostel or an inexpensive motel that would allow us to take our bikes and gear into the room. We saw our country up close and personal, and gained a new appreciation for the people who call it home.
For me, the Fourth of July, the U.S. Independence Day, is a very special holiday. Our family enjoys patriotic celebrations, picnics, and the all-important nighttime firework show. Wildly patriotic, I am over-the-top with excitement when it comes to fireworks! I look forward to them all year. So the morning of the Fourth we planned to start early and ride long. We wanted to reach a large city where we would enjoy a magnificent fireworks display that night. But sadly, as the „dawn’s early light“ broke, we were greeted by nothing but rain.
We pedaled in the rain all day long. Everything, and I do mean everything, was completely, 100 percent soaked. I was just sure that the rain would stop in time for the fireworks, but I was wrong! Disappointment spilled over into tears as the event I’d been anticipating for months was drowned by a rainstorm. Happily, the next morning the storm moved on, and a beautiful rainbow eased the disappointment of the soggy holiday.
I’ve enjoyed many other firework celebrations since that rain-soaked night, but I’ve had other disappointments that lasted longer and hurt more deeply than missing fireworks. I’m sure that you’ve met with many disappointments of your own. Today, if rain clouds dampen the joy you should be experiencing, if your plans threaten to fall apart, remember this: it takes both sunshine and rain to make a rainbow! The hardships we face may be the very things Jesus uses to make something beautiful out of what at first appears hopeless. He specializes in that, you know. So today, wherever you live, celebrate! Step into the „Son“shine! Then watch Him change your disappointments into dazzling rainbows.
From Blessed, ©2012 by the General Conference Women’s Ministries Department