I've always been fascinated with the Moon. I don't know what this fascination stems from, but I just like it. I like its shape. I like its color. I am always looking for it in the night sky, searching out its position and taking note of its size. I was excited about the "blue moon" that occurred on New Year's Eve 2009; two full moons in one month ... AWESOME!
Of course, with this fascination comes a lot of introspection on my part, and I have wanted for sometime to write down my thoughts on the Moon and its relationship with our Christian faith. You may say, "whosa-whatsa?", but hear me out on this ... and yes, I will preface this with #1. I am a "symbologist" to the MAX and look for God in all that I see, which definitely includes His creation and #2 ... I like to use elipses :-) ...
The Moon is in relationship with Earth via gravity and magnetic forces. The gravitational forces keep it separate from Earth, yet still hold it in sway with the Earth's orbit of the Sun. There are two "sides" of the Moon, referred to as the near and far sides respectively. Due to the way the Moon orbits Earth, we only get to see one side of it, and only portions of it during its various phases. When looking at the Moon with the naked eye from Earth, its surface seems smooth and white, but up close, it is covered in dust and shattered rock from centuries of collisions with objects in space and is quite cratered and scarred.
Now, think of us ... we are not of this earth, are called to be aliens, strangers, and pilgrims while on Earth, yet we are drawn to it by our own "gravitational" human nature. At times we are more "other-worldly" than others, but we can't escape our attraction to Earth and all that it has to offer. Again, due to our human nature, we often have two sides as well; one that we share on a daily basis with the world, but we often have that far, dark side that few get to see. And it is always there, whether we show it to others or not. We go through phases just like the Moon in our lives, and sometimes we are full of love for God and our fellow man, but other times, we are just a sliver of faith in the dark world around us. We want to put forth a good appearance to our fellow man, so we don't let people get too close for fear that they would see us for what we really are: weathered, cratered and scarred by the impact of objects, situations, or people that we have allowed into our orbit. We are covered in the dust of our life and ultimately, our sin.
But THIS is the part about the moon that I like SO MUCH! I'm gonna quote Wikipedia.org ... bear with me ...
"The Moon appears as a relatively bright object in the sky, in spite of its low albedo. The Moon is about the poorest reflector in the solar system and reflects only about 7% of the light incident upon it (about the same proportion as is reflected by a lump of coal). However, the Moon is not a Lambertian scatterer and reflects more light back towards the Sun (albedo of 13.6%[3]) than in other directions because of the spherical glass beads in the moondust. This increases the brightness of a full Moon.[76] It also has the effect of making the edges of a full Moon seem about as bright as the centre. Besides this, color constancy in the visual system recalibrates the relations between the colours of an object and its surroundings, and since the surrounding sky is comparatively dark the sunlit Moon is perceived as a bright object."
It amazes me that the Moon itself only has the reflective capability of a lump of coal! As they say, it "is about the poorest reflector in the solar system," yet it is the moondust that allows its brightness to increase to what we perceive as a bright object in the night sky. The Sun's light focuses on the center, but is spread from there over the entire surface to reflect the light back toward the Sun.
Funny how we, as humans, just when we think that we are so sinful that God could never shine His light on us or that we could ever reflect that light out into this dark world, it is our "dust" that makes His Son shine more brightly than we could have ever done on our own. He shines His light into our center, our heart, and we reflect the Son out in the darkness ... and direct it back toward Him!
Now, next time you look at the Moon, I want you to reflect upon yourself (no pun intended). What phase are you in? Are you using your life to reflect the Son out into the darkness? Look up and take note of the Moon in the night sky ... and thank God for His wonderful creation and all that it can offer us to show the world His love.
