For the last week or so leading up to November, the Moon was amazing: huge, brilliant, and owned the sky.
In my early 5:30 AM run, I didn’t need the flashlight from my iPhone. I just kept up with my shadow down to the beach, across the trails, above the harbor, and home.
But as glorious as the moon—captured in Cat Stevens’s song—the stars were even better.
You see, I live in Southern California where the ambient light from a dense population often erases all but a few stars.
Ah—but not this time. Venus rose bright in the east while Jupiter began to sink to the West. The Big Dipper scooped up stars and the belt of Orion hunted Leo. The phone app, SkyView®, lets me see the constellations brought to life by the ancient Greeks and Romans. (Actually, how they ever saw those figures is beyond me. I figure they were on different “grass” than their sheep.)
Such a miracle and mystery in the night sky. Orderly. Ordained. Other-Worldly.
My lesson to carry into the day: even when I can’t see them, they are still there. Perhaps hidden behind the darkness of division, fear, and hatred, there are places of light and love. Hmmm. Maybe that’s what I need to work on today–in my little sphere of influence. How about you?