Being the Right Moon

On May 5, 2012 I took my dog Ella for a walk out onto the Dorena Dam not far from our home.  It was late at night and the Moon was already up in the sky.  I had come home that night mesmerized by the sight of the Moon as I drove and knew that I needed to take a walk under its light.

That night was a full, new Moon, and a special one at that: it was a Super Moon, whose technical name is perigee syzygy.  This is when the full new Moon coincides with the closest distance that the Moon reaches to Earth in its orbit.  The result is a larger-than-usual appearing Moon, shining brightly in a clear night sky and making for great nights to take the dog for a walk.

As usual with events like this, most pictures just do not do it justice.  But that is OK because it was a night that I will always remember and enjoy.  It was a calm, quiet, peaceful night in which a flashlight was barely needed.  The Moon's brightness reflected beautifully off the water of Dorena Reservoir and lit up the starry black night.

It was a Saturday night and I planned an entire Sunday School lesson for the next day during that walk.  God gave me an image that night that has stuck with me ever since.  It is a fairly simple and obvious image but is one that has guided me in how to live out my faith.

That night the Moon appeared stunningly beautiful, majestic.  It lit up the forests and the lake around me, the road ahead of me as I drove to the dam.  But in all actuality the Moon itself was not the origin of all that glory.  The Moon, after all, is just a cold hunk of rock and dust.

The Moon was merely doing its job of REFLECTING the Light from the Sun.

The Moon daily, monthly, yearly just plods along in its orbit.  Staying the course, continuing on its journey, but as it does this it uses its very own surface to reflect back the light of the Sun onto the Earth.

Isn't this pretty much what we are supposed to do?

Today as I watched the awe-inspiring event now known as the "Great North American Eclipse of 2017" I was again inspired by the celestial dance in the sky.  I spent the day with my Camp Arrah Wanna staff family, camping in our Meadow and hanging out there throughout the entire total solar eclipse.  It was an amazing sight and exciting to experience as the morning light dimmed and transformed into what seemed like a chilled evening all within a matter of minutes.  Crazy shadows danced across the meadow around us.

We were just at the very "edge of totality" so as dark as it got, there were still other places, only an hour away from us, that experienced the darkness of night in the mid-morning as the Moon totally blocked the Sun from the Earth.

It occurred to me today that this event is quite different than the Super Moon.  In this event, a solar eclipse, the Moon does the opposite of what it is intended to do in the illustrated lesson I learned during the 2012 Super Moon.  In the solar eclipse the Moon ceases to reflect the light and glory of the Sun and instead blocks it out with its own presence.

Our job as we travel along on this journey of life on planet Earth is to plod along, stay the course, keep in the right orbit.  And as we do so we are supposed to be reflecting the Light of the Son.  Yes, Son... as in, Jesus, not Sun.

As followers of Jesus we do not need to have all the answers.  We do not need to always get it right or be perfect.  We for sure don't always have to be right.  We don't--shouldn't--need to be out there pointing fingers or judging or convincing people.

We just need to live our life, in our own little sphere of influence, in a way that honors God, with the example of the life that Jesus Himself lived.  And as we do that we can make a bigger difference than we realize.

It is when we stop doing that that we are no longer living into what we are called to do: to reflect the Son.  When we make it all about us.  When we demand our own way.  When we are always right, when we put ourselves above others, when our own needs come first.  When we exclude, when we don't love, when we walk away, turn a blind eye, when we are not just or filled with grace.  When I am more like Corey, and less like Jesus.  This is when we no longer reflect the Son, but instead we block, we eclipse, the Light of the Son.  This is when things become dark, and cold.

The Apostle John said, in John 3:30, speaking of Jesus, "He must increase, but I must decrease."  To live a life that serves others, loves others, puts others first.  To not be filled with selfish ambition.  To not demand my way but instead walk the journey alongside those God has put in my Story.  That is what we are each called to do.  That is how we are to live into our life's purpose.

That is what it means to be a Super Moon and not a Solar Eclipse.