Moonshine

Hello, Cyber-sphere
It's been too long...

So much has changed in life.... and yet not.... since I last wrote. The devotionals I copied down and commented on are still truths of life and God, but both have a funny way of reminding us what we said. For instance, I just re-read my last post - funny how we can write something, forget about it, re-discover it, and be re-encouraged by it.

What I really want to write about now is the glory of what it means to be a human being, totally devoted to God, screwing up on a daily basis, yet still have a creator who has the grace to continually use us for His glory in spite of it all.

Sara Groves sings this truth that has recently lifted me up and reminded me of the purpose we hold on this earth: "You are the sun/ shining down on everyone/ light of the world/ giving light to everything I see/ Beauty so brilliant/ I can hardly take it in/ and everywhere You are is warmth and light/ And I am the moon with no light of my own/ still You have made me to shine/ and as I glow in this cold, dark night/ I know I can't be a light unless I turn my face to You." Later the bridge goes on; "Shine on me with Your light/ without You I'm a cold dark stone/ shine on me/ I have no light of my own."

Think about it: the moon, a metaphor for humanity, has two sides to it. We, here on earth, only ever see one side of the moon. There is always that darker side that no one except astronauts get to see, and even their experiences are limited. The moon has no light of it's own - in order for us to see any part of it, we must have the sun. Even though the sun is several hundred million miles away, it is still bright enough that, when a small portion of it's light reaches the moon, the reflective dust on the surface gives us light in the darkness.

By comparison, humanity also has two sides to it. There is the evil, dark, selfish side that we were born into. Without the Son, that is what we would still be like: dark. Without the Son, we are a cold, dark stone, just like the moon. The dark side is something that is always with us, but with the light of the Son, we have the opportunity to shine His light to those around us.

Let me ask you something: What is the purpose of the moon? Please indulge my simplistic mind for a moment here; I mean, I'm no scientist as my parents could well attest to, but aside from having something to do with the tides in the ocean and the seasons, it's just a ginormous rock floating around this sphere we call Earth.

But that's just it.

We, like the moon, are simply a dark, cold object floating around in the universe. Dark and cold, that is, without the Son. The light that can potentially illuminate us only comes because of something greater than ourselves. We have to work past our darkness, but it still sometimes emerges. Just like a waning moon that loses 'sight' of the sun, when we lost sight of our Son, we too become dark. Like the moon, we move around our world, suspended between what we were born into, the darkness we see daily, and something greater than ourselves or our imaginations. Like the tides that are pulled by the gravity of the moon, our friends, family, and others are drawn to us depending on what 'phase' we are in. The waves of humanity are affected by our light, our gravity, and our distance.

However, unlike the moon, we have a choice. The people we have around us on a daily basis can and do see both sides. Our darkness will probably never go away, at least not this side of eternity. We must fight against it daily; if we don't the darkness rears it's ugly head and we lost the opportunities we have to serve, to love. But are we fighting on our own? What makes us feel like we have to? The Son has a warmth and beauty that we can absorb and reflect. He wants to share it with us, we need only turn our faces to Him.

Look at the moon the next time you are out. It's stunning. If the moon can be that beautiful merely reflecting the sun, what do we look like when we reflect the Son?