Ring of Fire

 This past week, two major events occurred in the world. The first: war broke out in Israel; a brutal attack by terrorist groups that showed no mercy to civilians. A few of Good Shepherd's own parishioners, as well as others, were on their way to visit the Holy Land at the time, putting them in great danger. Thankfully, they are safe, but tragically, many others are not. War, as always, results in a senseless and horrific disregard for life.

Events in nature, by contrast, demonstrate the beauty, order and majesty of Divine orchestration. The second event happened this past Saturday, October 14: a spectacular astrological event called an "annular" or "ring of fire" eclipse. which was visible in a precise arc across portions of the U.S.

"Since total solar eclipses are so rare and unusual, it’s tempting to think of them as random coincidences of nature. But they’re nothing of the sort. In reality, they follow a complex pattern of physical and mathematical rules that makes it possible to predict their occurrence years in advance, as people have been doing since ancient times. This pattern depends on the sun, moon and earth having exactly the right size, composition, relative distance and motion with respect to each other. If there were any variation in any of these properties, total eclipses as we know them would never occur". (S,Sztersky, Focus on the Family)

It really was an amazing sight to behold. As Tom and I watched the live video of the "ring of fire" eclipse on Saturday at NASA.com, we were filled with awe at such an incredible display of cosmic beauty. I thought of our daughter and her family, watching it with solar glasses from a mountaintop in New Mexico and tried to "tune in" to their experience. It gave me some comfort to think that, in a way, we were watching it together. In a world where we're separated by time and space, we can look up, give thanks for God's beautiful creation and feel connected.

When we're overwhelmed by thoughts of human misery and war, we can be assured that there is Divine order, evident all around us, in the beauty and majesty of nature.