Blood Moon

I woke up in the middle of the night, walked out into the yard in my pajamas and a jacket, and listened to the sounds of the night—a fox calling, dripping, some snaps and crackles. Looking up, I saw Orion straight ahead, the Big Dipper, and to one side, the moon. It looked like someone had taken a bite out of a white cookie. No red color, just a funny looking beginning to the eclipse.

I took a few pictures with my little Canon camera. I zoomed as far as it would go, and shot away. This is one of those photos:

So, I scrambled around and found my husband’s camera, older than mine. Those photos were worse! I came back inside and waited around twenty minutes. When I went back out, the eclipse was nearly complete, and amazingly, the moon was red. I took a few more pictures.

By that time, my husband joined me. There were stars everywhere! It was as if the dome of heaven had been set on top of us, and we were the only two people in the universe. So many stars!

You see, the darker the night—eclipsed moon—the brighter the light shines! The stars were gorgeous! After taking a few more fuzzy photos, I was ready to relinquish my position on the wet grass and go back inside to my warm bed. But, what memories!

Yes, the moon was amazing. (It’s not every day it’s red! We could see it better with the naked eye than through our cameras. . . . ) But those stars—all around us!

Puerto Rican pastor Hernán Cortez used to sing a song that impacted me when I was a young woman. The first stanza goes like this:

The darker the night 
The brighter the light shines. 
I'm walking with Jesus, 
The light of the world. 
Yes, He is the light; 
In Him is no darkness. 
The darker the night, 
The brighter the light, 
When I walk with Him. 

The Psalms include many beautiful perspectives about God and man and how the moon and the stars bring God praise. Here are a few of them:

• When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? and the son of man, that thou visitest him? For thou hast made him a little lower than the angels, and hast crowned him with glory and honour. . . . O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth! (Psalm 8:3-5, 9)
• The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handywork (Psalm 19:1).
• The heavens declare his righteousness, and all the people see his glory (Psalm 97:6).
• The moon and stars to rule by night: for his mercy endureth for ever (Psalm 136:9).
• He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by their names (Psalm 147:4).

O LORD our Lord, how excellent is thy name!