I've wanted to get into astrophotography for some time (taking pictures of the night sky and its inhabitants), now that I have a camera that can handle low light conditions, but it was just one of those things that I never got around to. Then I saw a little article on a comet that is in town for the weekend and decided it was time to dust off my tripod and give it a try. Happily one of the perks of living in the middle of nowhere is you can actually see the stars without taking a road trip, though there are some rather significant obstructions on the northwestern horizon, at least from my yard, I thought I'd give it a try. For two nights, I snuck out with my binoculars but to no avail and probably making the neighbors wonder what I was up to at night with my binoculars or camera! Between said obstructions and low clouds, there was no comet. I had read somewhere that it would appear right after sunset, and checked diligently every half hour thereafter for two nights and then went and set up camp, ready to take pictures on the third. The sun set, there wasn't much for clouds, but still no comet! I gave up on the dream, though I got to see two comets back in 1997, so I figured I knew what I was looking for, especially as this one was said to be less than those, which while interesting, weren't really all that cool to look at. Instead I turned my gaze and spotting scope to the opposite horizon and did a little planet gazing, as Jupiter, and supposedly Saturn were rather prominent in the night sky as well.
I've never tried star gazing before, I took astronomy back in undergrad, but we never went out and actually looked at the stars, instead we just did more physics problems. It was amazing to actually see another world (and 4 of its moons!) and then the rings of Saturn, amazing! While I was busy trying to take a picture through my spotting scope, full dark fell, the stars came out in their myriad hosts, and glancing idly off to the northwest, there it was! Wow! I had given up, I was ready and accepting of disappointment, content with nothing or leftovers, but wow! 1997 had nothing on this baby, what a tail! Then I saw a shooting star, and since I was already out there with all my gear, I finally got around to trying a shot of the milky way, which was actually pretty easy after Jupiter!
No wonder the psalmist proclaims, 'the Heavens declare the glory of the Lord!' And in another place, 'taste and See that the Lord is good.' Not just read about or watch on YouTube or inherently know, but rather taste, see, prove with your senses! A dirty snowball, a lifeless rock, an incendiary ball of gas, all displaying His glory, His wonder, for me! How much more can I do likewise in the lives of others? Modern society is too much addicted to passive pursuits, ticking off things on the bucket list, watching it in HD, instagramming it instead of experiencing it. We've lost our sense of wonder, our sense of humor, our humility, our joy! We've become old, jaded, bitter, cynical, critical, not the immortal children of a boundless Kingdom as He intends us to be.
A friend of mine just went to Yellowstone for the first time, and gloried in the geological variety around her (she's a rock nerd!), astonished at the busloads of indifferent tourists that merely traipsed by, barely looking at anything, just taking in the requisite scenes and moving on or taking a selfie in front of some wonder or other, filling up most of the frame themselves rather than glorying in the sight itself or giving thanks to its Maker and theirs. How very sad are such little lives!
May we lose the technology, the cynicism of our age, the hubris that easy access to seemingly limitless knowledge breeds, the jaded indifference of having seen it all, and reclaim the wonder of small children, who are delighted as much by the Morning Glory Pool as with the trash receptacle, who are very heirs to the Kingdom! Go chase unicorns and dragonflies and rainbows, learn how to laugh, to sing, to dance and not care what anyone else thinks, learn to see the glory all around you, so much so thoughts of your own recede far from you (true humility)! Lose yourself in the wonders of creation, rediscover your Creator!
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