Moon Chasers

It started off as a simple ride home.

To get dinner started. Dog walked.  Family fed. Children bathed.  In and ready for the night.

Mind was elsewhere. Cushioned by the din of the music streaming through our SUV.

The usual route. The weekly one. Left left. Right. And left again..

And then it caught me.  Tires now dead in their tracks. Snow crunching to a halt.  From the corner of my eye. Hung so low and enormous in the sky.  As if it could be chased and touched and personally investigated.

In hues of orange too bright, too radiant for a winter sky. As if misplaced from an autumn painting harvest moon. Tractors and taillights missing. Our moon.  Our January moon. Ever present and as if visiting us more closely than my 33 years have so far seen on our little planet.

A majestic centerpiece in our night sky.  Begging to be noticed. Denying us the option to ignore its unmistakable awe-inspiring beauty.

But my daughter, my four year old beautiful daughter, could not see it from her seat in our car. We tried at angles, and with adjustments, but she was left only to rely on my words.  "It's gigantic Olivia!"  "Sweetheart, I've never seen a moon so big and so close to us...and the orange color....oh the orange!" And as my words continued, her excitement heightened, curiosity piqued, and I knew then that dinner and dog walking was no longer first on our agenda. Tonight, we would be chasing the moon.

We weaved in and out of traffic. Going against the rush hour grain. Unknown streets were entered, new corners and neighborhoods now explored. Giant evergreens curtaining our prize, tall apartment blocks playing peek-a-boo. "Where is it mommy?"  "Is it now?" And with the shifting of my gears, and my golden retriever at my side our family was set on a mission. Our little mission to the moon.

Then, alas, we found the perfect street.  With wide open spaces offering entry and vacancy to the prairie sky. We stopped on the side of the road as my daughter unbuckled her belt to lean forward and see. The victory.

That night my family and I experienced, for a moment, a sacred moment, the joy of a wondrous Creator who loves to take his children on adventures. And though it's not extravagant and it didn't require a passport or a pay cheque, on a regular Monday night our eyes were opened and spirits lifted on an adventure that brought us joy and wonder, and in a strange way, a whole lot closer to Him.  For truly, how can we deny an intimate Creator as we stand in awe of His beautiful, mysterious, artistic creation?

Are there moons He's waiting for you to chase?

~When I look at the night sky and see the work of your fingers-the moon and the stars you have set in place-what are mortals that you should think of us, mere humans that you should care for us?  For you made us only a little lower than God, and you crowned us with glory and honor.~

Psalm 8: 3-5