THROUGHOUT my life I have been fascinated by rainbows. Having observed these brilliant arches in the skies of such disparate areas as the desert State of Utah, the exotic island of Bali, the mysterious land of New Guinea, to say nothing of my own Maryland home, I always feel a lift to my spirits when I see a rainbow. Perhaps the legends associated with rainbows have had their influence—for instance, the pot of gold, which, mythologically, exists at the end of the rainbow, the philosophy that happiness is bound to be in the vicinity of a rainbow. Be that as it may, I have often felt that it would be a wonderful experience to live under a rainbow every day of my life, to be insulated from "the thou sand natural shocks / That flesh is heir to."
Immediately the question presents itself: How does one accomplish this feat in the midst of the hard, metallic, competitive, turbulent, late twentieth century? A minister's wife, to parody Robert Louis Steven son, finds her life is so full of a number of things, that her head every day constantly aches and rings. It is not always easy for her to maintain her composure, let alone any semblance of peace of mind. It will very likely be impossible to change the circumstances of her life, but certainly she can change the way she relates to them. She can construct—in imagination—her very own rainbow.
Our primary assumption must be, when starting this do-it-yourself rainbow, that one end of the structure is based solidly on commitment to God, and the other in a personal relationship with God. Otherwise the project will be nothing but an exercise in futility. Having agreed upon this, the next step is to agree firmly that the Lord very definitely "helps those who help them selves." When all else fails, try an organized approach to the problem. I am, therefore, going to suggest seven specific steps to take in the building of a personal rainbow. I've arbitrarily matched colors and qualities, with what I hope is appropriateness.
For the first, brilliant RED band, I suggest ORGANIZED ENTHUSIASM. Notice that I have not used the word "enthusiasm" without a modifier. Colossians 3:23 contains a worth-while comment on this point. "And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord." Somehow I can not imagine offering the Lord disorganized enthusiasm.
Every minister's wife has encountered people at various times who are enthusiastic, but, alas, undirected. I recall a very talented man, whose interests ranged from music to colporteur work to—well, you name it, he was enthusiastic about it. Unfortunately, he never could seem to organize himself for any effective service. In discussing his problem with me, he explained how deeply interested he was, how committed to all his enthusiasms. I murmured the logical question as to when we could expect to see some fruits of his planned labors.
"Well," he hesitated, "there's just a little problem I have to take care of. You see, I can't make myself go to bed at night, and then I can't make myself get up in the morning, so that kind of holds me back."
Indeed it did. He's still being held back, the last time I heard about him.
It is important in this connection to understand the distinct difference between enthusiasm and excitement. The former is a controlled, steady, mature emotion; the latter can often be merely a fleeting thing dependent upon new experiences and constant stimulation. Organized enthusiasm may have in it elements of excitement, but it is a far more substantial emotion, far more dependable, far more lasting. Thomas Edison is quoted as saying, when asked why he had worked so hard all his life, "Why, I've never really worked a day! I've just had a wonderful time." Perhaps organized enthusiasm can help a minister's wife to react in the same way after an eighteen-hour day packed with emergencies and crises.
SELF-CONFIDENCE is the next step in the rainbow, the ORANGE band. This challenging word has various definitions. One that I particularly like is the following: Confidence is the thing that enables you to eat blackberry jam at a picnic with out looking to see if the seeds move.
Ralph Waldo Emerson has said it this way: "They conquer who believe they can. He has not learned the lesson of life who does not each day surmount a fear." Some people, however, in an attempt to hide a lack of self-confidence, adopt an attitude of seeming humility. The latter is often nothing more nor less than fear. All human beings are prone to be fearful of one thing or another. Just how can one acquire Christian self-confidence?
As usual, the Bible gives us the key. "As ... [a man] thinketh in his heart, so is he." Theologically, this text would probably not be used in this way, but for our purposes, to believe that you can is half the battle. Another step is to appreciate the fact that you are God's handiwork. You are "fear fully and wonderfully made." In fact, when you come right down to it, you are royal, with all that this powerful word implies. Royalty seldom lacks self-confidence. Royalty knows that it possesses power unlimited. And so do you possess power— God's power. You are entitled to be humbly self-confident.
The color YELLOW has, unfortunately, picked up a negative connotation through the years, that of cowardice. I'd like to change that, if possible, by assigning the yellow band in this do-it-yourself rainbow the quality of SINGLE-MINDEDNESS. A statement that I once read, though I can not recall the author, has meant a great deal to me. "The simplicity of an uncluttered life is beautiful to behold."
A story (apocryphal, no doubt) of a man in New York who was late for an appointment illustrates how important it is to be "all together." He hopped into a taxi, urgently admonished the driver to "Hurry! Speed it up!" and settled back. True to the tradition of New York taxi drivers, the latter took off with a screeching of tires. Several blocks later the passenger inquired, "Well, are we nearly there?"
Flinging the answer over his shoulder, the driver replied, "I don't know, Sir. You haven't said yet where we're going!"
Through the years I have observed that single-mindedness possesses as a corollary attribute a willingness to sacrifice unrelated activities and pursuits in order to accomplish a predetermined goal. If, for in stance, writing for denominational publications is the goal, as it is in my. case, then a great deal of social life must be sacrificed so that time is winnowed out of the days for this necessarily lonely and intellectually grueling pursuit. Single-mindedness helps in programming time wisely, in eliminating nonessentials. The sunny YELLOW rainbow band is very important.
Moving on to our next band, we find GREEN, or PERSEVERANCE. This quality is related to the previous one, since in most of life there exists a definite interrelatedness. However, it is possible to be single-minded and yet not to be persevering. The great and bitter enemy of perseverance, is, of course, discouragement. Some of us are more prone to surrender to this emotion than others. It is all too easy to wake up in the morning and feel that the day is bound to become a hopeless mess, that the goals you've assigned yourself are meaningless, and that to keep on with them shows a decided lack of intelligence. Especially in the case of a minister's wife, there seems to be a particular corner of her shoulder from which the devil can whisper into her ear at regular intervals the dreary message: "Give up! You're not going to succeed anyway."
Realistically, I am sure that one key to the practice of perseverance is the closing of one's mind to all negative thoughts and negative advice. Of course it is important to distinguish between perseverance and stubbornness. It seems to me that if, after much prayer and thought and Bible study your goals still appear worth while, and your plans seem approved by the Lord, nothing must be allowed to sway you from them.
Shakespeare, that master of the expression of human emotion, comments on perseverance thusly: "Perseverance, dear my lord, keeps honour bright: to have none is to hang quite out of fashion, like a rusty mail in monumental mockery."
It is my personal conviction that there is no royal road to anything. What seems so easy viewed through the eyes of an observer undoubtedly has been accomplished fay endless, persevering effort on the part of the accomplisher. (Incidentally, if anyone should ever accuse you of being stubborn, remember that the difference between perseverance and obstinacy is this: perseverance comes from a strong WILL: stubbornness comes from a strong WON'T.)
(To be continued)
