Good morning…
The bright light of tonight’s full moon fills our home at 1:00 am.
The Blood Moon of the total lunar eclipse, best seen in our area between 6:00 and 7:00 am this morning, will be more than 38 billion miles away (I think).
I met an honest poem yesterday with that distance as its title.
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“38 Billion” by Naomi Shihab Nye
It’s hard to grasp very big numbers and distant concepts.
Like imagining what all our thoughts might have been
if we lived 300 years ago. Would they be centered
on a goat or six rocks piled together
or would they be wide as they are now?
In those long-ago days,
would people be meaner to one another
or nicer? I have no idea. But sometimes I wonder what
38 billion dollars could buy, instead of weapons aimed
against us and this is what comes to mind:
Eggs. Pencils. Undershirts of very soft cotton.
Ribbons. Radios. Shining flashlights.
Handmade clay plates. Chocolates. Really soft pillows.
Baskets. Bracelets. Running shoes.
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Jesus valued the needs of people instead of the intoxication of power. He centered his thoughts on the Father, always. Consistently, he taught the ways of God without getting sucked up into the ways of the world.
He said: For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
Then he added: The eye is the lamp of the body. You draw light into your body through your eyes, and light shines out to the world through your eyes. So if your eye is well and shows you what is true, then your whole body will be filled with light (Matthew 6:21-22, VOICE).
We are created to we walk in the ways of our Lord. Valuing people above power. Centering our thoughts on the Father. Treasuring heart above having more. Drawing light into our whole body, we are shown what is true. God’s light shines out to the world through our compassionate eyes.
May we shine God’s light and truth into our darkened world in 38 billion creative ways.
…Sue…
