Isaiah 40:26

       Lift your eyes and look to the heavens:
       Who created all these?
       He who brings out the starry host one by one,
       and calls them each by name.
       Because of his great power and mighty strength,
       not one of them is missing.

For the last 12 years or so, I have been an astronomy buff.  I love to take my telescope out to a quiet place (sometimes my yard will do) and watch the sky darken and the stars come one by one, into view. First comes Arcturus, the yellow-coloured Guardian of the Bear in the west.  Shortly after, blue-white Vega shows up almost directly overhead, only 26 light-years away (a tremendously vast distance, but not in astronomical terms).  Then, I see white-hot Altair and Deneb.  Deneb is the brightest star in the constellation Cygnus (The Swan).  Cygnus looks a lot like a flying swan, but also like a cross.  It’s sometimes called the Northern Cross.  As the sky darkens further, a double-star called Alberio can be seen.  In the telescope, I can clearly make out the two stars that show as only one to the naked eye.  One is a deep blue colour, and one is a brilliant orange hue.  These two stars mark the foot of the Northern Cross.  In the Winter, the cross of Cygnus stands upright on the Western Horizon, a reminder of my Lord Jesus who was crucified.

As you can probably tell, I enjoy the details of my hobby.  I love reading about the vast distances to the furthest galaxies.  I like learning the history behind the names of stars and constellations.  I really enjoy seeing objects in the telescope that I’ve never seen before.  I even named my daughter, Mira, after a star. But studying the stars has given me an unexpected joy, too.  I’ve found that I feel at total peace when I am under the stars, and all is still.  Sometimes, I will start to look through my telescope, but soon just end up on my back, looking up at the sky and praying.

I don’t know why I feel God’s presence at those times more than any other. It could be the lack of distraction or the utter quiet of my surroundings.  But, I think it has to do with me knowing that physically, I am a very insignificant part of an enormous universe. It’s then that I am most humble, and perhaps that draws me closer to God.  I do know that even though I am not as big as a star or galaxy, I am more important to God, and that fills me with great peace and fullness.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 23rd, 2006 at 5:00 am and is filed under Daily Readings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.