My thanks to a super Sparker that gently reminded me it's been ages since my last blog. Over half a year has gone by, winter that seemed like it would never end, spring rains that wouldn't stop, and now a summer drought that has killed most of the garden.

Last time, I blogged for all the wrong reasons, this time, it's for the best reason: in appreciation of Spark,and the the wonderful. supportive people that make it work. Here, there is a supportive community to help keep you on track, keep your morale up, and keep you focused on the goal. Thanks everyone! Your input is appreciated.

Have you ever felt like everything is going against you, nothing is going right? Like you work and work and nothing good seems to be happening? Like it would take a miracle for everything to fall together and happen?

Well, this week, I got that miracle. I was feeling that sense of impossiblity. Too much to do, no hope of it getting done. On the way back from picking up the car at the repair shop, I looked up. And there, in the sky, was a fire rainbow. Now, you may remember the story in Genesis 9, after Noah's flood. "12 And God said, “This is the sign of the covenant I am making between me and you and every living creature with you, a covenant for all generations to come: 13 I have set my rainbow in the clouds, and it will be the sign of the covenant between me and the earth. 14 Whenever I bring clouds over the earth and the rainbow appears in the clouds, 15 I will remember my covenant between me and you and all living creatures of every kind. "

The rainbow, symbol of hope. And just a few hours after picking up the car, I did indeed see a rainbow. Beautiful, stretching across the dark sky in a broad arc. But rain bows are fairly common. The raindrops work like prisms, channelling the white sunlight into the individual spectra, seven brilliant colors side by side, arcing across the sky.

But on the way home from the dealership, I saw something much rarer. A rainbow without rain. Sometimes called a fire rainbow, a high cirrus ice cloud is transformed into a show of light. Sometimes the feathery cloud looks like it is on fire, hence the common name, 'fire rainbow'. It's real name is a 'circumhorizontal arc'. (The photo above is from WikiMedia, read more about them at en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ci
rcumhorizontal_arc )

The fascinating thing about the fire rainbow, is that in a sky full of clouds, one will be in living color. It's unique, special. To happen, the sun has to be above 58degrees in the sky. You have to live between 55degrees latitude north and south. There has to be ice formed into thick hexagonal plates in the cirrus cloud (instead of one of the many other snowflake shapes), and then the plates have to align themselves horizonally. The sunlight has to enter the ice on an edge, go through the ice crystal like a prism, and then exit through the horizontal face. Everything has to fit together perfectly. It would seem impossible, and yet there the fire rainbow was, dancing in the sky.

The light shimmered, at first in oranges, with the rest of the spectrum. Slowly, the colors rotated through the rainbow, as the oranges faded out and the greens took over. The most amazing luminous green, sort of like the pastel mint green on the old 50's cars, only with an electric quality to it. Finally, the tail of the cloud became lavender. A color hard to describe, shimmering, pastel. You can sort of see it on the Wikipedia page on the cloud photo with the long tail that trails out, the lavender is on the tail.

I figured I had seen the whole show, and went into the grocery store. When I came out, I was amazed to see an entirely different cloud in the limelight, a white billowy cloud with sections of electric pastel green. I hurried home, and my son was able to see the last vestiges of a miracle, before it disappeared for good.

Don't give up on your miracle. Just because it seems unlikely, because it seems like too many improbable things will have to come together to make it happen--dont' give up! Just like the fire rainbow, difficult doesn't mean impossible. It just means it's worth working toward, worth the effort. Because once your miracle becomes reality, you'll know it was worth waiting for.

You are special, you are worth the effort. Don't give up. Miracles DO happen, and one is waiting for you!