What is it about rainbows that stops us in our tracks, even though we’ve seen them so many time before? What is it about rainbows that makes us press our personal pause buttons, look up, point our camera phones and let out exuberant Oohs & Aahs?  What is it about seeing rainbows that makes us feel humbled and blessedly chosen at the same time?  It’s everything about rainbows that does.

Science easily explains that rainbows can appear at times when white sunlight penetrates raindrops at certain angles, and instead of passing through them, it hits the front of the drops. The light is then bent (refracted) and reflected off the back of the rain drops where, ta-da,!!! it is projected out for us to see. Like a prism, the bending of the light separates the white light into a ribbon of  its component colors: red, orange, yellow, green, indigo & violet. The shape of rainbows is circular, yet we only see arc portions due to cloud cover and the horizon, which cuts the circle in half. Extra-special double rainbows form when there are two reflections inside the raindrops instead of one.

Who doesn’t love a smack of colors pouring out of a grey, stormy sky?  It’s like getting a lollipop after a vaccination— comforting eye candy.  A unicorn’s playground, a pot of gold’s platform, rainbows are considered to be magical symbols. “The Rainbow Connection,” “The Rainbow Bridge,” their arcs  simultaneously touch sky and ground, no doubt making them bridges to the spirit world for people and pets. Are those blue skies over the rainbow heavenly? –a consoling thought. The  rainbows of life cancel out the tornadoes of life if we let them, and there are indeed many more rainbows in a lifetime. Furthermore, as a symbol, the inclusive rainbow highlights all the separate colors of the whole white light.  Startling, wonder-full, awesome, inspiring, uplifting, and humbling- rainbows are the divine sprinkles of life. Enjoy!……….Georgia Vincent

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photos by: Georgia Vincent (c)