Awake August 2016 - Twelfth

Heavenly blessings for the day
Meteors escorted me across the mountain
Perseid Meteors 2016

#AwakeAugust

I was not expecting to see the meteors early this morning as I went to work, but was gifted a few brilliant flashes on the way in. Living rural as we do, though there are drawbacks, we are blessed with beautiful skyviews. Our night-sky is relatively untouched by light pollution. 

Years ago, when I was still in elementary school, we used to lay in the yards at night, preferably on a gently sloping hillside, and look heavenward. We would talk quietly of the stars and speculate as to the reaches and limits of what is outside of our Earth. I am a child of the Space Age. I can remember when we went to the moon, and gathering around televisions in school rooms to watch spaceships splash down in the ocean. 

Countless times through my almost 58 years I have stood and gazed skyward. I watch clouds, and wish on rainbows. I moon bathe in Luna's ripe fullness every opportunity I get. I stood on the front porch of a century old farmhouse on North Carolina and watched for Hale-Bopp in 1997.

When I lived in Florida, we lived down coast from the Cape and I stood in my front doorway and watched  as Challenger fell back to Earth in 1986. Then, in 1988, I stood so close to the launch of the Discovery that I could feel the ground shake and was so hoarse from cheering that I could barely speak, as I stood with tears streaming down my face that warm September day.

I love to watch the moon and stars as I drive at night, and derive a sense of continuity and security by knowing that while my meager little existence may not mean much in the grand scheme of things, that as Carl Sagan is purported to have said, we are all made of star stuff. There eternity and endless possibility in each living being here on this planet. 

I love this photograph of Earth, wrapped in clouds: 

As I do this one without the billowy cushion, and a favorite quote from Wendell Berry:

I had planned to do a light-hearted post for this Friday in August, because I know so many hurting and grieving hearts right now, I guess I wanted to bring a smile to some faces for a change. Instead, Universe gave me lagniappe of meteors this morning, and this is the result. 

Life is timeless, and as fleeting as the light of a meteor streaking across the nightsky. We are never alone, though as humankind we often isolate ourselves. There is a sacredness to our very breath and a purpose in our every step. Every great philosopher and religious leader I have ever read, every sacred text I have ever seen quoted, in the end says one thing : Love.

I have a vision of Earth, healed ...