I look up to the heavens 3

What is it about the Heavens that draws us to look up? For generations, centuries, (millennia?) it seems we are drawn to look up for answers, comfort in times of despair, with pleas for help, when we are in need of grace, and to give thanks. Bella Vespira

Bella Vespira

Whenever we go camping, we sleep in a swag. If it’s a fine night, we sleep with the flaps open and lie looking up at the stars. Looking up at the heavens. 

Every night, I take my dog Bear out for his last foray outside and, every night he stands and stares up at the sky. While I wait for him to finish the business of the day, I look up. I look up to the heavens with my feet firmly on the ground.

The heavens fascinate me and call me to look up to see mystery, beauty, God.

In the last two days, two people–my personal trainer and my nephew–without any leading on my part, asked me, ‘Do you believe in God?’

The question took me back to a time when I lay on my bed in the dark asking questions about the great Creation conundrum– if God made the world who created God? If it was the big bang, who or what created the nuclei, plasma, electrons, protons, and atoms that formed the beginning of the universe?  

What’s beyond our universe?

I went over and over and over these eternal questions. In the end, I decided to call whatever the origin of the universe was, God. Because God is spirit. God is mystical. And, even though science is science, it is still mystical to me. Especially when I read about dark energy, dark matter and black holes.  

All civilisations or people groups have a creation story. Scientists also have a creation or origin story. 

I believe in God. I believe we all have something of God in us. I believe that following Jesus’ teaching is right for me, but it doesn’t mean I believe that everyone else is wrong. It’s not a question I can answer on my own, so I look up. 

I’m not the arbiter of others’ faith. I’m not the judge. I look up, out, down, around and see God. 

I see God in loving actions, in kindness, in creativity, in nature. I see God in people who serve others sacrificially. I see God in the heavens. I see God.

Whether we are headed to the Moon, to Mars, and beyond, or whether our feet are grounded here on earth, we can all search the heavens. We can all search for God. We can all look up.