11/08/2004

Aurora Borealis

I just watched one of the most spectacular celestial events going on and it took my breath away! To my knowledge, the Northern Lights have never been so visible in southern Michigan as they were tonight. Certainly not in my lifetime. I vaguely remember seeing them as a child during a camping trip in Canada. But to watch their bedazzling beauty in my own front yard- I was so awestruck and delighted that I woke my parents out of their sleep to come see it shimmer. My friend and kindred spirit called to inform me that they were radiantly visible if I stepped outside and indeed they were. If she hadn't called, I never would have known. I never would have witnessed God at His most artistic.

The Northern lights happen because of solar wind dancing on the atmosphere. To me, it looked like fleets of holy angels flashing their wings or mercurial shards of opalescence signaling that God is truly the author of Beauty. God is so good, and I want to praise him more each day! The aurora filled the night sky overwhelmingly. I felt so at peace to know that God was providing such an electric show. If ever one desired a beatific vision, the aurora borealis provides ample opportunity. If creation holds marvels such as this, how can we not stand in awe of our God who is so good and so beautiful, God who is ever with us! How can we not proclaim His supreme majesty?

Our Holy Father asks us to reach into those encounters with Beauty and see the glad tidings of the Lord. How appropriate that this event should come the same day I started to read his latest publication, "Rise, let us be on our way!" The book is clearly addressed to the bishops of the world, but it was marketed abroad for a reason. I think the Holy Father wants us to know and appreciate the role of a bishop in our lives. I think he wants us all to see how the call to holiness can shape our lives, whether we're bishops or not. It's a powerful testimony as to the marvelous ways God can be at work in our lives.

Well...tonight, I saw my sacrament. I know my Savior lives! I know the Lord is ever with me and the Spirit dances unto the world and the Holy Angels sound their trumpets in the most astonishing ways. Praise God over all the earth!!!

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

Seth~
Here are my thoughts on the Northern Lights from my Live Journal. Enjoy!

OH MY GOODNESS!!!! I have never been so moved by nature. Not in Ireland, not in Maine, not anywhere! I stood underneath the sky as God took his fingertip and swirled a wispy mix of green, pink and white. I
watched as He took light and burst it into a punch of purple that faded into pink and then green, ebbing and flowing mysteriously and yet so magnificantly throughout the starlite darkness. I was moved to
tears...

It is indescribable, the way the colors faded and brightened and moved! Spiraling, swirling, beaconing and curtaining. How at times it looked like a rainbow was slinkying down heavenly stairs....

It was absolutely amazing...awesome... and one of God's greatest testaments to His creation. Seth said that he imagines when we enter Heaven we will walk up stairs through the Northern Lights...I can't imagine anything more fitting. For the beauty of Heaven, the joy, the mirth was dancing across the sky. God gave us a glimpse of the wonder and awe of the life to come! And I am so very blessed to have seen it!

How very fitting with yesterday's reading about the Resurection and all. God just put the whipped cream on the sundae of a weekend for me!

Blog Archive