A well-known British Christian writer made this statement in one of his novels some 100 years ago: “When it rains on your parade, look up rather than down. Without the rain, there would be no rainbow.”¹

Sometimes this is hard to do, especially after the rain has caused flooding that results in homes being swept away by strong torrents, mud slides that wipe out highways, bridges, and cause millions of dollars in damage. G. K. Chesterton was often referred to as the “prince of paradox.” And that is what we find in this saying. How can anything so negative, as rain on a parade, end up being so positive?

In fact, it’s not the rain. This has been part of nature since creation. Without rain providing lakes, rivers, and drinking water, mankind would find it hard to exist. The damage caused by torrential rains and floods is most often to those things man has built in places where more caution should have been taken before construction began.

It all goes back to Noah’s flood. There was so much wickedness in the world that God chose rain to wash all that evil away and begin again with Noah and his family. So it was after the rain stopped that God gave the rainbow as a sign that He was in control. Therefore, the rainbow can become a symbol of starting over with a clean slate.

So, as Chesterton suggested, the next time it rains on your parade and things flood into your life that can cause a major change in the way you act, think and live, don’t look down, look up, and see the rainbow that offers the promise of a new opportunity to build again. But this time, build on a rock above the flood plain, not down on the sand where it can happen again. – Dr. Robert R Seyda