P4E.089 Perspective

"He's got the whole world in His hands
He's got the whole world in His hands
He's got the whole world in His hands
He's got the whole world in His hands"
Traditional Spiritual

Over the last few nights, the Moon appears to be losing the race with Jupiter across the southern sky. A few nights ago, Jupiter hung beautifully just above the half Moon. A few nights later, Jupiter appeared to be "preceding" the moon and last night Jupiter was far ahead of the Moon as they made their way from east to west in the southern night sky.

I say "appeared" because these nighttime observations and the words we use to describe them are based on one perspective, as we "see" them from the Earth. Looked at another way, the Moon and Jupiter don't "move" across the night sky, they come into and out of our view as the Earth turns.

To us, the Moon looks much larger and brighter than Jupiter. Yet, Jupiter is approximately 64,000 times bigger than our Moon. It looks like a pinpoint of light by comparison to the Moon because it is over 1600 times further away from the Earth than the Moon is. Neither of these heavenly bodies "emit" light, they are both reflecting light from our own Sun.

Because of the distance from the Earth to the Moon and from the Earth to Jupiter we are actually seeing a reflection of light from the past. It takes the reflected light only around 1.2 seconds to get from the Moon to the Earth. But, it takes over 43 minutes for reflected light to get from Jupiter to the Earth. So, we never see the "actual" relationship between Jupiter and the Moon at any given moment.

Why do I bring this up? The stock market in plunging, the economy is worrisome, there's war, and there's an important election coming up. I'm searching for new tools to address my anxious nature so that I don't continue to disappoint those closest to me. I know that answers lie in His Word and Creation.

I'm realizing that I have a microscopic, singular, point of view on my problems and worries. If I could only learn to get out of myself and move away from my circumstances and see them from a different perspective, I wouldn't be so consumed and affected by them. Being able to see my circumstances in 3 or 4 dimensions would put them in a different light. Maybe the problems I see as "big" are really small. And, maybe those that appear "minor" are, in fact, huge. Maybe all of my problems and worries are small when I consider the One who made and is saving me.

"Do not be anxious then, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'With what shall we clothe ourselves?'" "…But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you. Therefore do not be anxious for tomorrow; for tomorrow will care for itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own."
Matthew 6: 31, 33, 34

Peace, Kim