I was today’s years old when I realized that the moon rises and sets like the sun. I realize this may make you wonder about my intelligence, but believe me, there are far more things in my life that should make you wonder about that!

My new discovery came this week. I had the good fortune to be situated at an intercoastal location while the moon was in full phase. We saw it just after watching a beautiful sunset over the marsh. After the sun dropped below the horizon, we hopped in the car to drive 2 miles to go see the ocean while there was still light. Lo and behold, there was a majestic full moon over the water! The white sphere appeared large and clear, and it was difficult to take our eyes off it. You could see the contouring on the face of the moon, and we stood in awe of the fact that we had just seen two incredible displays of God’s handiwork inside a 15-minute window.

That night, my sleep was fitful, and I woke up lots of times. I am a fan of sleeping with the windows uncovered because I like to be able to see all of the natural light and dark of night and day. During one of my awake times, I spied the full moon outside my window. It made me smile. I woke an hour or so later and the beautiful moon was smiling back at me. It sat a little lower in the sky and had taken on a dark yellow hue that made me understand why people sometimes describe the moon as looking like cheese.  Later into the night at another waking moment, the moon was still there, big, lovely, yellowish-orange now, and sitting on the horizon. As I watched for just a few minutes, the moon touched the horizon, and I realized it was going to sink into it. A moonset! I grabbed my phone and set it on time-lapse and captured the farewell. And then that was it! There was no fanfare. No noise. No additional light show like you sometimes get when the sun goes down. Just a quiet, clear, night sky with the stars blinking their goodbyes. A wave of awe washed over me.

The moon is often a metaphor for the life of a Christian. God gives us the task, and it is our delight, to try to reflect the Son’s light like the moon reflects the sun’s. Jesus, the Son of God, describes himself as Light. “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” (John 8:12) Just as nothing is as bright as the sun in our universe, nothing will ever rival the light of Jesus.

“He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of His nature, and He upholds the universe by the word of His power. After He had provided purification for sins, He sat down at the right hand of the Majesty in heaven.” (Hebrews 1:3) 

There must be light for life to exist. There must be Jesus for eternal life to exist. The moon simply reflects the sun’s marvelous light. It has no light of its own. Similarly, we generate no light, so trying to shine our own light is futile. When we seek the Son with our whole heart, He will shine through us. His light is majesty and power, love and justice, grace and mercy – and redemption! As we see with the moon, sometimes the world can completely block the sun’s light. Likewise, the trappings of the world sometimes interfere with how we shine the light of Jesus into the darkness with which we coexist. When we don’t love others well or get distracted, His light doesn’t shine through us fully.

As I watched the beautiful, full moon slip away, it made me think of those Jesus-repping souls I have known who slipped from this life to their reward – eternity with the Son.  The memory of their radiance brings incredible memories to those left behind. It also brings a challenge to live in such a way as to honor the source of their light, Jesus Christ. I pray we can all be a FULL moon!