August 29, 2015 at approximately 2100 hours, I could be found walking on the beach of Anna Maria Island off the mainland, on the Gulf Coast of Florida. Now there's a place who's fine white, shell strewn sand I had never heard of let alone dreamed about. As God would have it I and my family were taken there to help my oldest son move his home in order to follow employment opportunities. As I lazily strolled south on the beach from a starting point at the public beach parking lot with Ann, Stephen, Micah and Seth the summer warmed waters of the Gulf of Mexico lapped gently at our feet and ankles. These same waters that so peacefully took use to a place of solitude and peaceful enjoyment of nature and God's creation with their rhythmic lapping of the coast are also the same fuel used by tropical storms rev up their engines of rain, wind and destruction.
Probably just as amazing as the gulf and the shore this particular evening was the moon. The Earth's God-hung satellite. The astronomical calendars tell us that it was one day short of being a full moon but only someone with a micrometer could accurately measure the difference between what was seen this evening and what the calendars reported.
Our conversation this evening during our walk included may varied subject. How the past days of travel, by car and by plane, were; the challenges we had with the move; our successes in meeting those challenges; hope and expectations with the coming days in Florida; and as the King of Siam would so authoritatively say, etc., etc., etc.
I believe it was Micah who first mentioned the moon. How bright is was. How big it seemed. How it lighted the entire beach showing us the way without the scorching heat of the sun. He then made the statement that he was amazed not so much by the moon but rather by the sun. The sun, he said, was so magnificent that it's light could reflect off an object 93 million miles from it so much that it was still able to illuminate the very beach upon which we trod. I interjected with another fact about the sun. At 93-million miles it was still hot enough to blister my skin if I was not careful. All this family conversation coupled with the place and the tiredness of the day delivered a weariness to our bones that in it's own special way was good to feel as well as welcomed by all.
It was the next morning during a pre-heat, pre-suffocating humidity early walk, that the full impact of what happened the previous evening arrived at special spot in my brain or my heart or my soul where God plugs directly in and through a fire-wire transfers exactly what He wants me to know. I hope you have one of the God controlled USB ports. God works like this in my life a lot. He lets me experience some wonderful things and as the rush of that enjoyment begins to wane he allows my mind to see the message in His plan. He wants me, He wants you, He wants us to be moons! He is looking for us not to create our own light. He does not want us to light the way. He is only asking us to reflect His light. He wants us to light the way for others, not with our light but with the reflection of His light through our lives.
How easy is that. I am not being asked to create something new. I am not being asked to save the world. I am being asked to allow the light and the love of the Creator to reflect off me so that others can see His light. This I understand. This I can grasp. This I can do. I need only to maintain my orbit, allowing all that is Love reflect off me. I understand that like the moon I will wax and wane in this task but for those times when I am able to I can be a full moon for God, shining His light on the beaches and shores in my community, lighting the way for others as they walk in the darkness.
May I be a full moon for the creator. With His help I too can accomplish this. - DD
