A Natural Alarm

The last couple nights the moon has been full. I hadn’t really noticed it that much until this morning around 3am when I woke up to what I thought was someone turning on the light in my room. Actually I had left my blinds open a bit and moonlight was now pouring into my small space and illuminating the unpainted walls of my room. After laying there for about an hour unable to sleep and unwilling to get up and close the blinds, I finally rolled over and grabbed the binoculars.

I should probably explain that a little better. I don’t keep spying equipment at my window for any other reason than watching the wildlife; a few days ago I had been watching some raccoons play in the trees behind our house so the binoculars were still sitting on the window sill.

I stared up at the moon now through the binoculars. Everyone always says that there’s supposedly a man in the moon. Or his face or something like that. I’ve never been able to see that. As I looked up there all I saw was something that looked like a footprint, or the African continent or something, definitely no man. Maybe I was on the wrong side, or the man is upside down or something.

Of course my mind began wandering to what it would be like to walk there on the moon. To have been one of the two or three people to ever step in a place no other human has ever been. To place a footprint that will never be disturbed or moved or placed again. In some ways I’m sure it’s a frightening, exciting, strange, ethereal and breath-taking moment. It would always be the one story your children and grand-children ask you to tell.

I closed the blinds, laid back in bed and soon began to think.

How absolutely incredible that the same hands, mind and heart that dreamed such a foreign and other-worldly planet also dreamed me. The same creator and designer whose hands carved the surface of the moon also lovingly traced my features. My nose, eyes, feet, hands, knees and even all the inside stuff.

And as thoughts of a master designer fill my mind I soon find myself the astronaut. Walking onto a surface that’s never been touched. Taking steps in life that no one else will ever take and then turning to look behind you to see your mark in the universe that will never be changed. Stopping and standing amazed when you reflect at the places you’ve been and the place you are. In every way possible it’s a frightening, exciting, strange, ethereal and breath-taking moment. At some point stopping and thinking to yourself “Wait a second, how did I get here?”

We all find ourselves in these places. Through life we find ourselves walking into the unknowns, the untouched and the unseen. We have moments in our lives when we don’t know the terrain, we don’t know the answers or we feel like we’re on another planet. In those times I have to remember who created the place in the beginning.

As overwhelming as my problems and challenges are, my God is so much bigger. My problems only seem too big or too heavy when my view of my Father is too small.

As I face this year, I want to remember that as my footprints are placed into unknown areas, the One who designed it all is much bigger, much more loving and much too concerned to forget any details. And it’s always a smile to remember that He knows which planet I’m making footprints on.

Thanks for reading

matt