Penetrating Moonlight

I woke from a dream about 3am this morning. I looked out my window and saw the gibbous moon where it had been peeping in my window yesterday when I had awoken at roughly the same time, except this morning it had two soft-white beams of moonlight extending from it in the shape of a large cross, with the moon at the heart. The sight immediately brought me comfort from the stickiness of residual thoughts from my dream: yes, there is indeed nowhere that I am left without God’s love penetrating the moment for me.

It reminded me of the story we’re told of how the would-be Emperor Constantine in the 4th century looked into the sky the eve before a critical battle and also saw a cross illuminated there with the words “in this sign conquer.” The rest is history, as they say. The first 250 years of Christianity took a sharp turn at that juncture, and I wonder if perhaps Constantine would have been better helped to have been instead given Jesus’ words from Matthew 18. Other men before Constantine had rankled for greatness, and when they asked Jesus about it, he answered them: “In truth I tell you, unless you change and become like little children you will never enter the kingdom of Heaven.”

How open is your mind to new ways of being, thinking, and doing? When was the last time you heard a podcast or read a book and truly changed your mind about something? How easy is it for you to let go of your opinion in the face of your ego’s desire to be “right?” These are fascinating questions that we hopefully will never outgrow. Perhaps today our prayer can be, “Holy One, help me to experience your love penetrating this moment for me, removing the stickiness of fear and ego.”

May early morning blessings of moonlight penetrate your awareness when you need it the most,