Yeah, so in trying to think of what I wanted my first blog on here to be about, I decided that it might be a good idea to explain what the title means since it may seem a little random. I had a hard time coming up with a title and finally settled on this one since it pretty much describes where I'm at in my life at the moment.
How? Well it all started back on September 25th, 2009. Now usually I can never remember specific days when it comes to things like revelations, but that day is memorable for a couple of reasons. One because September 25th is my nephew Caden's birthday and two because it was on that day where I saw my favorite band Little Big Town in Ocean City, Maryland. A word of warning for anything who ends up reading my blog (assuming anyone does, that is): I consider myself to be an LBT addict who is always in search of a new fix. To date I've seen them over 40 times and been lucky enough to have been able to meet/see/talk to them several times. The best band in music right now, in my opinion, and four of the nicest people I've ever met. As such, they'll probably be a lot of LBT references in my blogs. Maybe not all of them, but I do expect them to be a somewhat regular fixture.
And in this case it is especially important to include them because the title of my blog, along with the revelation it refers to, was actually indirectly inspired by Phillip Sweet, who happens to be one of the members. Phillip, whose last name could not be more appropriate for him. He is without question one of the sweetest guys I've ever met, not to mention super talented and hilarious and easy on the eyes. And yeah, I have a bit of a crush on him, not gonna lie.
So how did Phillip inspire the title? It's not much of a story, to be honest. Me and my friend Katie had been hanging out kind of close to the buses for a little while and Phillip kept coming over to chat for a minute or two. At one point he basically just came over to announce that he was taking a walk, which was pretty random, but hey, that's Phillip for you. We had ended up back over there around the time he happened to come back and he walked over and told us to turn around to look at a light in the sky behind us. It was part of a rainbow, stuck in the sky on a beautiful sunny day.
So see...it's not much of a story, but it had a pretty huge impact on me. It's funny how something as small as someone telling you to turn around to look at a light can lead to such a big revelation, but then again, all you need is a spark. Just one tiny little spark that can catch on and turn into a great big flame, which is exactly what happened there. It got me thinking about life - more specifically, it got me thinking to the storms about life.
You know what I mean by storms? I'm talking about all the trials and tribulations that we deal with in our lives. All the problems and struggles and hardships that we go through. Life cannot exist without tough times. We're messed up people living in a messed up world and trouble or storms, as I'll be referring to all that stuff from here on out, is a direct result of that. Storms affect everything we go through if you think about you. If you're not going through a storm currently, maybe you've just gotten out of one. And regardless of which category you fall into, you can be sure that another storm is on the way.
So what does that have to do with rainbows? Well, if storms represent all the bad things in life, than rainbows represent all of the good things. And one thing I've learned is that there are always rainbows to be found, even in the midst of the worst storms. The problem is that we can get so focused on the storms that we stop looking for rainbows. So caught up in the bad things in life that we forget to look for the good things. Maybe it goes deeper than that. Maybe it's not just that we forget to look for the good things, the rainbows, maybe we forget that they exist at all. Maybe we stop believing in rainbows because all we can see is the storm.
Back to Phillip. Before he walked over to tell us about that life, both me and Katie had been facing the opposite direction, not paying attention to what was going on behind us. We were focused on whatever it was that we were doing at the time and completely oblivious to the light in the sky. A light that we never would've seen if Phillip hadn't decided to come over to point it out.
Back to my revelation. I've come to believe that life is full of rainbows, but I wonder how many of them we actually see. I would venture to say that we miss a bunch of them. Either because we're too caught up in whatever storm we're in to see beyond it or maybe because we simply get too busy to look. Maybe we forget to look or maybe we stop believing that they exist. Maybe there's rainbows that we see, but don't recognize as being rainbows for whatever reason.
But if you ask me, that's no way to live. We have to keep believing in rainbows, in good things, because the moment we forget they exist, we lose our hope and hope is far too precious to lose or forget about. So we mustn't lose hope and we mustn't forget about rainbows. And it's not enough to believe in rainbows, we have to remember to look for them too. Because it's like I said earlier - there are always rainbows to be found, even in the darkest and scariest of storms.
So yeah, I'm not going to go into detail at the moment because right now it doesn't really matter for this blog, but right now I feel like I'm in the middle of a couple of different storms. It's hard for me to believe in things like rainbows in times like this, but I choose to do so anyway. Because there's always some out there. And another word about rainbows - sometimes the only way to get to a rainbow is to go through the storm first.
I don't know who will end up reading this and I don't know if you're in a storm, dealing with the aftereffects of a storm or waiting for a storm, but the advice is the same. When storms happen, and they will, the first rule is to keep pressing on, no matter what happens. Rule number two: sometimes it's hard to keep holding on to something real and good when things are going crazy around us and you know what? It's okay if our grip isn't always as strong as it should be because the truth of the matter is there is absolutely nothing that can happen to you in this world that will throw you out of God's hands. After all, your weaknesses and hard times are no match for His strength and love. Your grip may fail, but His won't. So remember that you are always being held onto, no matter what happens.
Which naturally brings me back to my final and original point and the meaning of my blog title. Don't stop believing in rainbows and don't forget to keep looking for them because they are always there to be found. And on that note, keep an eye out for those around you because you never know who might be in need of a reminder about rainbows.
Case in point: that little moment with Phillip back in September happened during yet about stormy period of my life and completely opened me up to this revelation, a revelation that has not left me alone since. I felt so strongly about it in the beginning that I decided to share it with a good friend of mine, Lee, who happened to share a love of both reading and Little Big Town with me. Our friendship started when she messaged me to tell me she was interested in editing and wanted to see if I'd mind if she edited some stories I'd written and posted online. I agreed because while I love to write, editing is not a strong point. I can't even tell you how many mistakes she would find in a chapter. It was through that process that we began talking about other things and our friendship grew. I was blessed to have gotten the chance to know her for as long as I did, even if it was only for a short time.
You see, Lee had cancer, though she never told me what type. I have no idea how long she'd been struggling with it because she held off on telling me. Why? Well, she knew I that I have rheumatoid arthritis and she knew that stress could affect it and she didn't want to have me worrying about her and having my RA get worse as a result. That says a lot about the kind of person she was, doesn't it? Once she finally decided to tell me, she also said that she'd been having a very hard time with it and was understandably afraid. Now she lived in Australia so there was very little I could do for her aside from be there to listen (well read, since we talked through email) and send her all the LBT news and reviews I had since she'd told me that it was easier to get through her day if she got her daily dose of LBT. It was frustrating for me at times, not being able to do more for her, so I decided to tell her about my rainbow thing and she messaged me back to thank me because it offered her some comfort. She'd forgotten about rainbows too.
I wish I had a happier ending for my story about Lee, but I don't. She lost her battle to cancer a few months ago. When I think about her, I think about her up in heaven surrounded by a whole pile of books and LBT music playing. And I also imagine her being surrounded by a flood of rainbows. I think heaven is full of them.
So yeah...rainbows still exist and can still be found in the worst of storms. Don't stop looking for them. Back to the day with Phillip and Katie in Ocean City. We never would've seen that rainbow if he hadn't of pointed it out. Months and a really long blog later and it's stayed with me. Hence the title. So if you see someone who looks like they might be in need of a rainbow or a reminder about rainbows, don't forget to point it out. You never know how your words or actions, big or small, will affect someone and hey. You taking the time to remind someone else about rainbows or pointing one out is a rainbow in and of itself.
God bless.
