Mooning You

Do you ever look at the moon?

I love to stare at the moon. With dinner and baths and tucking in and early to bed early to rise nonsense, I rarely see the moon at night. But, at 4somethingam when I leave my house for the Y (which arguably could be "night") I love to stare up at the moon. Other people are hustling and bustling in and out of the Y and here's old Luna Lovegood staring up at the sky.

Last week the moon caught my eye. Its enormity, brightness, and overall beauty... I just couldn't look away. "I want to go there!" I thought. I found myself thinking about this one action of staring at the moon in longing and how it really tied me in with humanity. I thought about how for so long humans longed to go there. What is that beautiful place? What will we find when we arrive? Generations and generations of people have stared at the moon in wonder. And then we finally got there and it was a big barren rock.

{Que Debby Downer music.}

The moon, while cool, is a big desolate rock. Space travel? Fascinating. The moon? Eh. What makes the moon enchanting is the fact that it reflects the light of the sun.

And then it hit me... we are not the moon.

Christ says, "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill can't be hidden." (Matt 5:14) Bam! Just like that I understood that we are nothing like the moon. The moon in and of itself is not all that interesting. Stand far away and watch the light of the sun reflect from it surface? Yeah, I can dig that. I like to look at that everyday. But go there? Hang out? Grab some drinks and start a long term relationship? Well... sorry moon... I, uh, have a previous engagement... some dude is bringing me to the movies.

We aren't the moon. We are a city on a hill. We give light. Sure, we are beautiful because we reflect God, but we are also beautiful in and of ourselves! We are a city on a hill for Christ's sake! Show up on the moon and you want to go home. Trudge all the way up a hill to a well lit city? Bring me my slippers and a bag of Doritos. I'm staying for there the long haul!

Now, let me take off my astronaut space helmet and put on my southern-pastor's-wife-teased-bleached-hair. You were created in the image and likeness of God. You are beautiful. You aren't the moon! Your beauty isn't surface value. You aren't just reflecting the fabulousness of others. You are a city on a hill! You have light and depth of your own! You bring beauty into the world. You are a place where people want to stay. So, be the city that God created you to be. Shine brightly with your own light. Be confident in who you are and who God made you to be.

Now think about this combined with the fact that God, the source of all light and life, dwells within us... and your head might explode.

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord!