Saturday, December 22, 2007

Winter Solstice, Mars and the Moon

A few nights ago, at 3:00 a.m. a bright light woke me up. Someone was shining a light on my face. I sat up quickly saying "what's that!" My husband continued to snore—he can sleep through anything. I turned around and looked back at my pillow, and it was illuminated by a bright light with straight dark lines going through the light. The rest of the room was completely dark. I looked toward the windows. It was the moon shining through the blinds! I tried to go back to sleep, but it was hard to sleep with a glowing pillow. I finally got up, and closed the blinds tightly, but the moonlight still fell across my face.

Later, I wondered if God was trying to get my attention. He knows I am always looking up into space.

Speaking of space...today is Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year. And tonight, I had an adventure in space. My parents and I were at a family Christmas party. When it was over, we jumped into my dad's lemon yellow truck and drove to the next town to see Mars.

Once a month, at every quarter moon "sidewalk astronomers" descend on the park. Tonight the astronomers put in a special appearance because its almost Christmas, and Mars is looking very bright out there. The earth is close to Mars right now. The orange planet is one of the brightest objects in the sky. Check for it between 7:30 p.m. and 9:00 p.m. toward the east...(California time)...Northern Hemisphere.

Merry Christmas...and don't forget to look up. I wish I could go back in time and see the Bethlehem star!

4 comments:

Susan Skitt said...

What an interesting experience Sharon. It makes me think of what God said about light. He put the greater light for the day and the lesser light in the sky at night. It looks like that lesser light was shining especially bright. And I too have wondered what it must have been like to see that special star so long ago... it must have been amazing! Merry Christmas!!!

Becky Wolfe said...

What a great moment to be awakened by God's nightly illumination! A reminder that he puts bright things in the sky to get our attention at all times of the year! I wish I could have seen how bright that star was as well on that first Christmas!

Merry Christmas my friend!

Dawn said...

The stars were so amazing outside our cottage in the hills above Kona. I was really glad I woke up to see it several times. Felt like I could reach out and grab them.

Hoping things went well for your Christmas Eve and Day!

Check out Kristen's latest on my last two posts, if you have a minute.

Beach Girl said...

You are in my prayers and will be continually. I cherish my long distance blog froendship with you and want you to know that I'm here with you and for you.

Praying that 2008 will bring our sons back to the Lord.

Love you,
Vanessa