What Do Now?

This post is part of the Five Minute Friday link up. We write for just 5 minutes on a one-word prompt and see what happens. Today’s prompt is “now.”

I have a 26-month-old grandson who was an early talker, so by now, he’s really got a grasp on the English language. When he was coming to our house 5 days a week (which he’s not now thanks to the stay-at-home orders and the job losses of both his parents) he would often finish doing something, or just tire of the activity he was engaged in, and he would come to me and say, “What do now?”

It was so cute. He got that from us because we would often say it to him when he looked like he was moving on from whatever he was doing.

It occurs to me that we’re often like that with God. We always want to be doing something. But in this time of pause in the world, it seems like we shouldn’t be asking that question. Maybe the right question to ask is not “what should I be doing?” but rather “Who am I becoming”?

A Rare Moment In Time and Space

This post is part of my 10-Minute Tuesday series. I write for 10 minutes with no heavy editing on a 1-word prompt. Today’s word is “gaze.”

Sunday night was a super blood wolf moon, which, to my untrained self, meant January’s full moon (wolf), that was going to appear bigger and brighter because the moon was at its closest point to Earth during the month (super) and there would be a total eclipse making it look red (blood).

I think I got that right.

I didn’t even attempt pictures this year. This is from March 2011

Anyway, my astronomy-loving son was home from college for the long weekend, and we were looking forward to watching it together, late though it would be on the East Coast. We also had my 1-year-old grandson with us, but he should be soundly sleeping at that hour.

Or so I thought.

Turns out, just when things were getting interesting with the eclipse, baby Zayne woke up crying. When this has happened in the past at this point in his sleep cycle, calming him and then putting him down to go back to sleep didn’t work. But I figured he should be picked up by his parents soon and would be on his way home before the totality of the eclipse occurred.

Again, or so I thought.

As I held Zayne and he slept in my arms, the clock kept up its unrelenting march across time, and I saw my opportunity to watch this rare phenomenon in person slip away.

And then I gazed at Zayne.

His breathing steady, his little breath ever so slightly whistling through his tiny nose. And I marveled. And I thanked God that I had this opportunity to be with Zayne. Eclipses and wolf moons and super moons would all come around again, but there would be only one Zayne. Only one January 20th, 2019, when I could hold him and rock him and let him sleep.

I ended up being able to see the moon just past totality as my eldest son came and picked up Zayne a little after midnight. So I stood in the front yard while my younger son pointed out some stars that he had been able to identify and we shivered as we gazed at that marvelous night sky with that bright, blood red moon.

And I rejoiced.

Yes, the glory of God can be seen when we gaze at the heavens, but He is right there when we gaze at the face of one made in His image.