Recently, someone shared a video series with me about two sisters who defected from North Korea. The video I watched chronicles their visit to a small town in Texas, a town where I used to live. As they drove around, they noticed a lot that any of us would. At one point, though, one of the sisters said something I would not have thought much about.
They could not help but notice how different all the houses looked. Back home, they were used to uniformity. Narrating their new experience, one of the sisters quietly explained the difference by saying, "Difference was just scenery."
The rainbow in Genesis 9 is more than a beautiful image in the sky. The Genesis story says it serves as a reminder of God's covenant. I'll take that, and I'll also take it as a sign that God delights in a world full of color, variety, and life. After the flood, God did not build creation as a gray and identical place. God makes the covenant with every living creature. The sign of that promise is not one color but many colors held together.
We often fear difference. We let fear divide us. We judge by fear and we even try to control by it. But I choose to let the rainbow remind me that diversity is not a flaw in creation. It is part of its beauty. The many colors together make the rainbow beautiful and a joy to witness--who doesn't like to see a rainbow!
Maybe that is part of what God also wants us to remember when we see one stretched across the sky. Grace is wide enough to hold us all. And in God's creation, difference is not a threat. Difference is just scenery.
Stay blessed...john
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