The Night Sky

 

I like the moon. I always have. As a boy I liked to walk by the moonlight and sleep under the stars in the moonlight. I sat in front of a black and white television and watched the first humans walk on the moon. In my weak attempts at being a visual artist, one of the objects I most dreamed of painting was the moon. I love the way the moon seems to change. I love the moon’s soft and gentle glow in the darkness. I like the way some planets have several moons.

The moon has inspired countless poets and painters and lovers and writers - and will continue to do so as long as we dream. I do so enjoy the work of those who capture some of the beauty and magic of the moon. Carl Sandburg writes, “The moon is a friend for the lonesome to talk to.” The moon, in its constant course, walks with us through all life brings, all life long.

Mark Twain saw something very different when he pondered the night sky, writing, “Everyone is a moon, and has a dark side which he never shows to anybody.” We do live guarded lives, seldom being fully all we are to one another; seldom being fully all we are, even to ourselves.

The Psalmist writes, “When I look at thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars which thou hast established; what is man that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man that thou dost care for him?”

Perhaps that is what speaks to all of us so strongly, whether we are religious or not, when we look into the dark sky. We feel a connection to all creation and are amazed with the thought that we are known and loved by our creator. We feel that somehow, as small as we are, that we have a place in the scheme of things, that perhaps we can find a place with each other.

Peace.