Starry night

We looked upon this world of warring individuals, warring theological systems, and inexplicable calamity, with deep skepticism. We looked askance at many individuals who claimed to be godly. How could a Supreme Being have anything to do with it all? And who could comprehend a Supreme Being anyhow? Yet, in other moments, we found ourselves thinking, when enchanted by a starlit night, "Who, then, made all this?" There was a feeling of awe and wonder, but it was fleeting and soon lost. Alcoholics Anonymous, p.46

I got pretty upset when I heard someone say that the Sun would burn itself out in five million years. Then I realized they had said "five billion." What a relief. - Wanda W.

[First, let me apologize for waiting so long to post. Sometimes other things vie for my attention and I just started some online training in graphic design that has become quite an obsession. All or nothing, as Bill used to put it. Anyway, on with the post.]

This is the time of year when the Milky Way is bright in the evening sky. I'm fortunate enough to live in an area with low humidity and clear skies, so I can go out and look up at that amazing haze of light and force myself to realize that I am looking at the light from literally billions of stars.

I walk outside just in time to see light that left a star the day Jesus Christ gave His Sermon on the mount. My eye intercepts other light that began its journey when Michigan was still under three thousand feet of glacial ice.  And I see light from countless other stars that began speeding toward an empty spot in space where this planet would not yet emerge for millions of years, light from stars that themselves ceased to exists millions of years ago.

Of course no light arrives to mark my birth. Nothing I can see is that close.

In spite of all this, the moment I turn away, all I can think of is myself.