One night last week, as my little girl and dog and I were driving our neighbor/friend home, we saw the most spectacular sight. And we almost missed it. I was hurrying down the street doing what I too often do–I was thinking ahead; and thus the dinner I was in the middle of and all of the events of the upcoming school/work day nearly robbed me of a thing of real beauty. It was early but really dark, due to the recent time change, and I noticed a brightness on the right side of my face as soon as I got to the first clearing beyond our driveway; I say “first clearing” because we live in a very wooded subdivision, and so the name “Wake Forest” truly does fit us. This brightness was so compelling that I immediately and instinctively turned toward it, taking my eyes off of the street in front of me; and yes, I did check first for oncoming cars. And the sight I then saw changed my whole demeanor from the inside out.
I saw the most beautiful moon I could ever remember rising up gently from behind a line of trees. It was so beautiful, in fact, that I actually backed down the empty street and stopped in the middle of it just to take in that awesome moon. It was then that my dear friend and neighbor, Taylor’s her name, took a photo of that moon on her phone; and when she later texted it to me with a Scripture verse that the moon had made her think of, I felt like it was simply meant to shared. Some moments are just too powerful to keep to oneself altogether. Yes, that moon stopped us in our tracks and made us think of the amazing God that created us (and that moon). We were awestruck by nature because we were first awestruck by its Creator and his nature–he is, after all, Light.
It’s easy to feel overcome by the darkness of this realm. It happened to me just yesterday. I found myself in a place of despair for many hours, and all because the imperfections that are in this world and that are in all of us just simply overwhelmed me. I want it to all be easier down here. I feel like I expect it to be at times. But it’s not easy at all here. And it can get very, very dark. And it’s just then that sights like that moon appear and still our bodies and souls. And in slowing us down they help us to remember that darkness, in all its many forms, has indeed been overcome for and by Good. It just doesn’t always feel like it. But, we can’t, or at least we shouldn’t, choose to live simply by our feelings. They are too changeable, too prone to betray us. We must live by what we know deep down in the recesses of our souls to be true. We must live by/for the Light.
P.S. Doesn’t that lamp post make you think of Narnia?:)
Leave a Reply