Lunar Reflections

Something wasn’t quite right when I woke this AM at 5:30. There was light where there shouldn’t be – a bright light pouring in my kitchen window from the west. It took me a few seconds to sort it out – ah the moon – full and glorious in a cloudfree sky. I grabbed my binoculars to enjoy the last of it before it set behind the hills above me.

Now, an hour later, the hills to the east are thrown into relief with an apricot glow behind them. A beautiful start to a week where many things may be brought into sharper relief. Light has a way of doing that.

Because I prefer being outside to in, I’ve spent a good amount of time observing the heavens – and someday I may share a very funny story about just that. But not today. Today I give you –

Lunar Reflections

She is by nature drab and dull,
(and yet tonight she glows),
barren, dry and desolate
– but look at her tonight.
Streetlights pale in brilliance
to her borrowed beauty.

She lifts her face to her source,
unveiled and unprotected,
and we
– who dare not or be blind –
can gaze on her in wonder.

If she, like I am,
made of dust,
can manifest such beauty,
then we made in His image
shall shatter dark with glory.

The NT verse Matt. 27:51 has always struck me with awe; I tremble when I read it. The significance of this one verse can hardly be overstated. A huge heavy tapestry veil woven of twisted linen hung in the temple in Jerusalem to separate the Holy of Holies, the earthly place of God’s dwelling, from the rest of the temple – where animal sacrifices were made daily for sin. I won’t go into great detail, here’s a link if you are interested. https://www.gotquestions.org/temple-veil-torn.html

But what actually shakes me, and is perhaps the screenshot of history I most wish I could have seen, was that the moment Christ died on the cross, when he uttered the words, “It is finished” – that veil was rent in twain from top to bottom. The significance of that moment – that a mere mortal could walk into the presence of God, through Christ’s sacrifice (2 Cor 3:16) is breathtaking. And so, with that veil removed, we – you and I -and all mankind, anyone who chooses to draw near to that light, ‘unveiled and unprotected’ may go out into wherever we are in April 2020, reflecting God’s glory, shattering the darkness, bringing His light.

Yes, our going out is somewhat restricted these days, but there are many ways to shine and one of the joys of this lockdown/shutdown has been discovering the myriad ways people are lifting their torches and swords high. So shine my friends, there is no veil.