In a social media environment where the curated messaging of our Instagram feed has the power to make us feel many things – motivated, inspired, discouraged, inferior – I like to remind my family of the Unique Rainbow Theory. Or URT. (It’s my theory; still working on the name.)
The URT is the principle that when we see a rainbow emblazoned across the sky, it’s entirely unique to us. We are the third point in the triangle of light and sight that actually forms the rainbow. Our body’s position, where we’re standing, the angle of our gaze, is the pivot point in being able to see the rainbow at all, and by definition creates a unique perspective.
So when I call everyone out to the street from inside the house to see this spectacular miracle, no one will see it quite like me. I can text my daughter and say “GO LOOK!” and from her other-side-of-town-vantage point, she might see a great rainbow in the eastern sky, but it’ll be different than my rainbow. Last week I experienced such a bright rainbow that it changed the hue in the atmosphere all around us. People were stopping their cars along Pacific Highway in my little Oregon town to gaze and photograph this full and stunning creation.
As I stared at the gigantic rainbow, I knew it was mine and mine alone. Where it begins and ends, how the arch spans in front of clouds, even the specific nature of each band of color. All mine. I knew that the guy who stopped his Jeep a mile back was seeing his own version of this glorious display. Even if it’s indiscernible, it’s true. Mathematically and mysteriously it’s true. When I ponder a rainbow in this way, it feels so very personal – a love note from God just for me. He has a different love note for the guy in the Jeep.
I relate this personal vantage point of our life relative to others, in the context of God’s creation. We are each knitted in the womb, wonderfully made as beautiful creatures to be in relationship with our creator and others. We each have our own vantage point and our own calling and dream. Our talents and longings and brainpower, woven into our being from the beginning, are uniquely ours to be part of this world in important ways. When we are inspired uniquely by a specific story or lesson, we are meant to hear it differently from everyone else and be inspired to act from our own sensibilities. It’s miraculous, really.
We must pursue the longings we were created to pursue. Both for our whole-hearted joy and also as part of the larger community in which we live. First, though, we align our hearts with God.
“Continue to draw your heart closer to God and then seek the desires of your heart.” – Steve Sammons
When our hearts are on God, His Holy Spirit helps us to discern our best life path. Then, (here’s the difficult part) we need to leap, and run and step forward into those dreams and desires that bring out our talents and dreams. Unabashedly. Knowing our life isn’t made to look like anyone else’s, but that we must pursue the specific and uniquely magnificent possibilities that God created in us. Just for us to do.
Our world tends to elevate trendy celebrities and styles and the masses often show up in large fan bases for popular ideas. We think we’re meant to fit into a certain bucket of thinking or lifestyle or taste. But we’re not. In fact we’re meant to be completely unique and forge new paths of love in our communities. It’s our unique calling to lean into the relationships before us and share God’s love in our own way through our own life and work. It’s uniquely our vantage point and combination of created talents and pursuits of our God-inspired heart that can come alive through the way we live our life every day.
I’ve made oodles of blunders in my life and through a long obedience, I continue to seek, learn [laugh] and mature. Plus, sharing our blunders is part of our magnificent grown-up rainbow that makes for great stories.
Our children are each pursuing their relationships with others and with God through their own lenses – each brilliant and unique. Our greatest prayer is that they are able to always know they are created to live a unique story, a specific view of their own unique magnificent rainbow.
