Moonbow or Rainbow?

John 1:5

Ever heard of a moonbow?  I hadn’t until last week.  I’ve seen rainbows my whole life, but have never seen a moonbow.  Scientists say they are both optical illusions, meaning they don’t exist in specific locations in the sky.  Whether you see one depends on where you’re standing.  As colorful as rainbows are — you know, ROY G. BIV —moonbows are in grayscale.  The light is diminished because it isn’t just refracting from water droplets, but it is a dim reflection of the source of light, the sun.  Most moonbows are seen around waterfalls.

Okay, before I have to fall all over myself apologizing to Dr. Case and put my ignorance on more display than I may have already done, here is my point.  Rainbows are created by the direct light from the sun off fragments or droplets of water, and when standing at the right angle, seen for all their color and beauty.  A moonbow, often without the help from a lens that increases the light, might never be seen.  If they are seen, they’re in grayscale, with no definitive colors in them.

One reflects diminished light that is difficult, and at times impossible to see.  The other one reflects bright, direct light that puts on display an entire spectrum of color, from red to violet and everything in between.

As we talk about light and dark this semester, reflecting on the differences between a rainbow and moonbow, the theme begs a question for me – Which light source will we live by?  The moon or the sun?  The light that at best can only be seen in gray scale, or the light that reveals all the colors of the spectrum?

 “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

John 1:5

In the world we live in, filled with real light that reveals all that is there, and artificial light, hiding things in gray scale and shadows, we have a choice to make.  As John shared in his prologue to his gospel, “Jesus came to the world he created, and the world didn’t recognize him.  He came to his own people, and even they rejected him.”  When the real light is here, why settle for a dim reflection, living in a world of grays instead of all the colors of the rainbow? 

 What will it be for you?  Moonbow, or rainbow?