AM Psalm 66, 67; PM Psalm 19, 46
2 Samuel 13:1-22; Rom. 15:1-13; John 3:22-36
We couldn’t ask for a better Psalm for this year’s debut of the Perseids meteor shower--Psalm 19, where, “The heavens are telling the glory of God, and the firmament proclaims his handiwork.”
Every year, in mid-August, the earth crosses the path of the comet Smith-Tuttle, the source of the meteors. From about midnight on, the ability to see them picks up, and by almost dawn, it is not unusual to be able to see 50 or 60 in an hour. My personal favorites are the “earthgrazers”–the long, slow horizontal ones that one might get lucky enough to see just as night sets in.
I go out of my way to be up at strange hours when the Perseids are here. The variety of the meteor trails is just too addictive. Some are simply little tiny blips–where others are so bright and showy it seems that I can almost hear them sizzle.
This year, if you can find time tonight or tomorrow, find a spot you can get away from the light pollution a little and bring a reclining lawn chair and a blanket. Look to the northeast. Spend some time where there is no speech or words, but listen for God’s voice–the voice that goes to the ends of the earth. Find a prayer within yourself with every meteor you see.
What happens when you make time for the heavens telling the glory of God?
Maria Evans, a surgical pathologist from Kirksville, MO, writes about the obscurities of life, medicine, faith, and the Episcopal Church on her blog, Kirkepiscatoid