Afternoon Moon

Have you noticed the moon the past couple of weeks? Not the shape, but the time of its appearance in the eastern sky. It's appeared as early as 4:00 PM, while the sun is shining at least 65% (my guesstimate) of its noontime intensity.

Actually, I should be clear. Jackson was the one who first noticed the moon. He has been learning a lot of words lately. Around a month ago, his favorite pictures to point out were those illustrating the moon, the stars, the sun, and the clouds. It was cute to hear him fumbling about learning the differences between those words. One evening we pointed out the full moon and he called it the sun. No matter how many times we corrected him, he kept calling it the sun. I guess he hadn't really seen the sun directly, only in pictures, and most moons are depicted in illustrations as being half-crescents.

So a couple of weeks ago, as we were driving home from work around 4:30, he shouted out "Moon! A moon! I see moon!" I replied something like "Oh, you see a moon? Are you sure? The moon only wakes up at night-time." I thought he was probably confused again, since he was still learning those words and it was far too bright for the moon to make its appearance. And that was that. A few late afternoons later, he pointed again and said "Moon! Moon!" This time I looked where he was pointing and durned if it weren't the moon shining faintly over the horizon.

I pondered it a bit more the rest of the drive and realized that my little boy had taught me yet another lesson. I was convinced he was wrong about the moon. After all, I know that that moon belongs to the night. What place does it have appearing during the day, when the sun reigns? But Jackson doesn't know all these things. He just knows what he sees. And that hasn't yet been colored by his expectations about what he should see.

"Structure must always submit to Spirit." That's how my church phrases it. Sure, God's character is unchanging, but the times change and cultures change. Thus, the church and God's people must also be willing to change in order to engage the people God longs to bring back into relationship with Himself. I sometimes forget that. I see things the way I'm used to seeing things or the way I expect to see them and forget to look for different ways of seeing God or people or circumstances. Then little things like this happen and I am reminded again that I shouldn't rule things out. I need to remember to look with fresh eyes and see if there's something new and unexpected on the horizon.

Clarice