The recent solar eclipse passed directly over our city, and my friend came up with a wonderful analogy between the phases of the moon and our spiritual lives.
Before I can make the comparison, I need to present a short science lesson.
Look into the night sky on any clear night, and you will either see the whole circle of the moon, half the moon, a sliver of moon, or no moon at all. By fifth grade, my teachers had introduced me to why the moon has different shapes. It all depends on where the moon and sun are in relation to each other and to the earth.
Now, I was a slow learner when it came to spatial relationships. It took me forever to see the angles! But I finally grasped the concept somewhere in high school. For all of you scientists out there and people with great talent in math and physics, bear with me. Even as I wrote this post, I had to act out sun, moon, and earth. Picture me as the moon sidestepping around my dining room table (earth) and noting how i stood between the hutch (sun) and the table! I HOPE I’ve got it right!
So.
if I can see a full moon, that means I am able to see the sun’s reflection on the entire side of the moon that faces earth. (Day 14 in the diagram above)
If I see the quarter phase where the lit side of the moon looks like half of a pie (Day 7 or Day 22), then my position on earth only allows me to see a portion of the sun’s reflection on the moon.
If I’m looking at a crescent moon (Days 4 and 26), then the side not facing the sun, which is always in shadow, has almost moved between earth and sun. Only a sliver of reflected sunlight is visible.
And if I can’t see the moon at all, then it is directly between earth and sun, and no sunlight is reflected in earth’s direction (Day 29 or 0).
See that itsy-bitsy arc of light on the bottom right?
My friend compared her attitudes in life to various phases of the moon.
Full phase: She lifts her face to the Son and His Light. All is well. She’s joyful. She reflects His Light.
Quarter phase: She can see the Son, but she likes doing her own thing, too. A form of laziness, perhaps? She reflects His Light part of the time, and the other half, she spends on her own efforts. No Light there.
Crescent phase: Life isn’t so good. Doubts cast huge shadows. She only reflects a glimmer of the Son’s Light.
New moon phase: Depression. Her soul sucked into darkness. She’s turned her back to the Son. She is zapped of energy. She can’t even whisper a prayer. No Light radiates from her at all.
BUT HERE’S THE GLORY:
Even during the night of her despair, the Light of the Son still shines around her. He glows. He doesn’t abandon her.
Which brings us back to the full solar eclipse.
I had expected total darkness, but there was still plenty of light. Dim. Eerie. I could see two “stars” in the sky, Jupiter and Venus.
The perfect black circle of the moon, the half not facing the sun, slid into place. It covered the entire disk of the sun. I could take off my special glasses, look right at it, and not burn my retinas. And there was the fire ring I had always heard about! Amazing! For while the moon covered the sun completely, the thin ring of the corona still gave light to the earth.
Just like Christ still gives Light even when we turn our backs and plant ourselves firmly against Him.
We can’t block out the Son!
His Light will shine on the world whether we serve Him or not, whether we love Him or not, whether we believe in Him or not.
Which is even more amazing than a total eclipse of the sun!
