The Moon is always round

There were “audible screams of delight” from NASA scientists onboard Artemis 2. 

One of the Astronauts, Victor Glover, had this to say:  “As we are so far from Earth and look back at… the beauty of creation… In all of this emptiness — this thing we call the universe — you have this oasis, this beautiful place that we get to exist together.”

It was clear that he was struck by the beauty of God’s creation, and yet among the delight they could not get away from the brokenness.  Even far from earth, the pain of a lost wife was felt by the commander as they named a moon crater after her.   Carroll Wiseman  lost her battle to cancer at just 46.

Even as Glover was delivering his Easter message, Donald Trump was threatening to wipe out an entire civilisation.  Beauty and brokenness, so often hand in hand.

Dr Jonathan Gibson wrestled with the brokenness when he and his wife lost their newborn daughter Leila.  He wrote a beautiful book called “the moon is always round”.  He begins the book with a dedication to his son Ben “whatever happens in life, remember the moon is always round. I love you. Dad”

In a beautifully illustrated book we see different times and seasons with the moon appearing as different sizes and shapes. Nevertheless on each page we are reminded that the moon is always round. Why does he want his son to know this?  Because he wants his son to know that God is always good even when you can’t see it. 

But how can we know that God is always good?  When you reach the end of the book you are asked to go back to the beginning and look for crosses.  You wouldn’t have noticed them on a first read, but as you look back through you can see a cross formed in the sky by two planes, by a telegraph pole, even by a toaster.  There is a cross on just about every page. How does the cross show God’s goodness? This is how the author of the book explains it:

“On Good Friday, when Jesus died on the cross, he experienced the most difficult of times.  That day, the sun was blanked out and the whole  world went dark – the darkest it has ever been.  No stars twinkled. There was not even a sliver of the moon in the sky to give Jesus some light.  And yet in the darkness, God showed the whole world that he was still good. Because in that moment, Jesus died for our sins, so that we can be forgiven. It’s why the day is called “Good Friday,”  because even though Jesus died in the darkness, God was still good – just like the moon was still round, even though no one could see it.”

What a wonderful truth.  As you look out on a world of beauty and brokenness, don’t stop there. When you see beauty, join Glover in praising God for the beauty of his creation. When you see brokenness, remind yourself “the moon is always round” and “God is always good” – we can know that because of the love God showed at the cross.  A place of forgiveness and fresh starts.