Wonder...

Today when the reflection came out for today's photo prompt - wonder - my mind and heart went to the pictures from my India trip, specifically to pictures of sweet veiled girls in an Islamic village outside of Delhi. I was framing profound reflections about cultural differences and mutual wonder.

After my workday, I waited to pick up Emma from her after school activity, knowing that I had to race home to make dinner and then turn around and head to church to help with confirmation. The clock was moving too fast, Emma was moving too slowly, and it had begun to rain - a cold, gray rain that darkened the evening sky. I fought to keep the stress in check. I read, checked my phone, thought about the reading I had to do for class, for work, for church, for candidacy...

Emma appeared and as we drove away from the school, the sun, about to set, emerged below the banks of clouds still raining on our journey. It wasn't sunlight filtered through clouds - it was brilliant blue (almost turquoise) sky, spattered with just a few brilliant yellow and pink clouds. To the east, the sky was black...and there was a brilliant, full, high-arching rainbow...the biggest, brightest rainbow I have ever seen. We were both craning to see the wonder on both sides of the car...

I knew I couldn't capture that rainbow with my camera. And so I absorbed it with my soul...the very best I could...brilliant colors, glowing at both ends, arching high into the dark sky. And to the west, a changing palette of pink and blue and yellow and orange without lines or arches - abstract splotches and blots.

I was able to capture a glimpse of that wonderful western sky on the phone when we got home. Wonder isn't some high-minded thing. God shows up in dark, stressful, and unexpected places. With signs and wonders.

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