Then God said, “Let there be light-bearers (sun, moon, stars) in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night, and let them be useful for signs (tokens) [of God’s provident care], and for marking seasons, days, and years; and let them be useful as lights in the expanse of the heavens to provide light on the earth”; and it was so, [just as He commanded]. God made the two great lights—the greater light (the sun) to rule the day, and the lesser light (the moon) to rule the night; He made the [galaxies of] stars also [that is, all the amazing wonders in the heavens]. (Genesis 1: 14-16, Amplified version)
Let me say right off the top that nothing I say here is ever meant to point to the moon or stars as fortune tellers. Rather they are, as God said in Genesis, designated to be luminous tokens of God’s faithfulness, and a means for marking the seasons.
Because of Genesis 1, I love to tether my reflections, and sometimes even my creative practice, to the moon phases.
Why do I love to tie my creativity and even some types of personal planning to lunar cycles? Simply because she’s always there. That “lesser light” will always be there, so long as there is an earth. Simply because there is a certain mystery and romance to slipping outside, after dark, to pray and meditate and dream and plan. There in the night sky, from the time I was a child and until I draw my last breath, whenever the sun sets I will always be able to find the moon in one of her phases. Even when there is rain or heavy cloud cover, fascinatingly, I can find out the moon's position on any given night.
For example, tonight, June 26th 2023, your moon is a waxing gibbous. She’s becoming full. She’s getting bigger. She’s waxing. This is a lovely time to pray over the good things that are steadily growing in your life. For me, tonight, I will be feeling very grateful for this very Substack space.
We are growing. And I thank you.
Psalm 104: 19, “You made the moon to mark the seasons, and the sun knows when to set.” All mortal existence is set to a rhythm. To use a powerful-but-exhausted phrase: we were made to live life attuned to the “rhythms of grace”.
Oh, how we need rhythms - repeating patterns - to learn. Graciously, God inserted a continuous progressive shining device into the sky, which beams during the least-busy part of your day. What a gentle invitation! He strategically suspended a lesser light in the softest sky to speak of His faithfulness, to look a little different every night yet forever and faithfully be the same source, to light our path when darkness seems to hide the way ahead, to comfort us when we can’t seem to find rest, and even to tether a few of our plans or coordinate our energies with.
There are powerful lunar, seasonal, and circadian rhythms. The moon has long been known to impact female menstruation, fertility, and birth. The enormous biorhythm of the tides of the sea are also tethered to the moon. The one thing we can safely extrapolate from these creation facts, is that we thrive when we set aside intentional time to remember what is most important.
But forgetting is our way. It is more than a tendency, it is the default setting. We humans do not remember well without repetition and rhythm. So the more we can tether holy reminders to the repeating patterns we see, the greater our capacity to tend to principal things.
And now for some moon fun. Here is some moon music….and one of my art instructional demo’s showing you one way to paint the moon:
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