Venus flew in front of the sun in 2012. Everyone in my family was excited.
We watched through the cool glasses my husband’s alma mater sent for the solar eclipse two weeks before. Being old school myself, I carried two pieces of paper–one with a pin hole in it–to view it without looking at the sun.
His glasses worked much better.
We pay attention to events in the sky because our son is an astronomer. We call him Stargazer. He worked at Apache Peak Observatory that year and peered at the universe through a computer screen, while searching for new planets.
Psalm 19 reminds us the heavens are telling of the glory of God and when the expanse of stars spools out before me–colored by computer so you can view them better and figure out the temperature degrees (I don’t remember why that’s important–time?)–I feel very small indeed.
It’s hard for me to realize my son is an astronomer. When I think about the stars, gravity confuses me–why don’t the stars all fall to the bottom?
Stargazer’s amused. “Bottom of what?”
I’m whimpering even now because I don’t know. The universe?
(We spend a lot of time with the folks at Reasons.org, and they’re very helpful on all these subjects. Here’s one about a recent discovery of seeing before the big bang!)
How did he become an astronomer?
My son became interested in astronomy during his years as a boy scout. Far away from city lights, he examined the stars from the clearer dark air of the high Sierras. He knew most of the constellations and could wax lyrical for hours about the stars to his troop mates.
Stargazer told me recently when he was a little boy he always wanted to be an adventurer or an explorer.
Photo by Štefan Štefančík (Unsplash)
He wanted to see things no one had ever seen before.
“You know what, Mom?” Stargazer said recently. “Last month one of my colleagues found a new planet. I was the second person to ever see it.”
That reminds me of something I’ve long said about how God works in our personal lives. Just because I can’t see it–just because I don’t recognize God at work in my life–doesn’t mean He isn’t there and busy.
Just like the stars and the planets.
You never know what will fly by and catch your life.
Tweetables
Boy scouts, Venus and a curious young man. Click to Tweet
What causes people to become astronomers? Click to Tweet
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