Thoughts from a Night Watch

The stars.

Can you even see the stars where you live? If not, they have very little part of your daily life. You know they are out there, but so is seaweed in the sea. But from time to time through the year, we become aware that perhaps we might be able to see a meteor shower if the night is clear and we are out at the right time.

Such an announcement came a few weeks ago. It was a cold night, but very clear, and since I don't live in the city with its light pollution, I thought I would give it a try to see some meteors.
First off, it get uncomfortable really fast if you are standing outside on a chilly night with your head thrown back to look at the sky. Gotta find a more neck friendly way to study the night. Ah, a reclining lawn chair should do the trick. I found something to use as a blanket and reclined. Now just to be patient and watch the sky. For a busy mom who always has something that needs my attention, lying down to watch and wait made me a little antsy. You have to be alert; there was nothing I could do to make anything happen. That requires another adjustment to my thinking.

As I lay there, flat on my back, just looking up, a feeling of the vastness of the universe came over me. There is no way to comprehend it. The order to the stars, and the thought of how many generations before me looked at these same stars, and named the constellations overwhelmed me. It was a part of the lives of untold numbers of people of different languages, cultures, and continents and they KNEW the stars in a way that we modern Americans with movies, TVs, computers, and generally snug homes with good walls and roofs don't. Our leisure time isn't spent unwinding under the night sky where we can become acquainted with the Great Bear, or Hercules
or the Hunter.

Genesis 1:16 reads, God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, and the lesser light to govern the night. He made the stars also.
The vastness that we marvel at is written as though the stars are sprinkles on an ice cream cone.

So if your everyday life gets to feeling like more than you can handle, remember that you can go to the Creator of the Universe. He can see more than you can, and won't overburden you.

Oh, by the way, I saw only one meteor that night.