Recently several of our family members wandered into the night air to try to catch sight of meteors shooting across the sky. Some of us watched for a long time and only saw the slightest hint of a celestial scratch. We thought it was worth our time to see even a single grain of sand burning up in the sky even if we did grumble about the long wait.
It is estimated that about 25 million meteors enter Earth’s atmosphere every day. 25 million every day! Yet we are lucky to see two or three every August. There is a lot of celestial activity that we miss entirely.
I wonder if meteors are not the only thing we miss. I wonder how many points and streaks of light God sends in an average day—and how many we actually notice.
Do we notice not only abundant blessings but also subtle impressions?
Did I notice the wave of appreciation I felt for Nancy as we chatted together first thing this morning? Nancy’s goodness is an immense gift to me—one I should never take for granted.
Did I make note of the insights and affirmations that came from reading in I Corinthians this morning? “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him” (1 Cor. 2:9). I should be grateful for the millions of pinpricks of light in scripture.
Even as I write this article, am I aware of the heavenly light that provides ideas and facilitates their expression? How many flashes of light have I missed already this morning?
When we look up in the night sky, we may imagine that we see millions of stars, but the best estimate is that we can see 2,600 to 4,600 stars with the naked eye. Our spiritual acuity is probably no better than our visual ability. Of God’s heavens filled with billions of stars, we see only a few.
To continue the metaphor, there are an estimated 250 billion stars in our galaxy. 250,000,000,000. That’s a lot! It is also estimated that our galaxy is only one of two trillion galaxies. If you multiply 250 billion stars by 2 trillion galaxies, you can see that there are a lot of points of light.
And we see only rare and weak hints of all that light!
One lesson may be that I shouldn’t be too unsettled when there are doctrines I don’t see or can’t understand. When God shows us more of the picture, it will all make sense.
Stevenson wisely observed: “If I from my spy-hole, looking with [partially blind] eyes upon a least part of a fraction of the universe, yet perceive in my own destiny some broken evidences of a plan, and some signals of an overruling goodness; shall I then be so mad as to complain that all cannot be deciphered? Shall I not rather wonder, with infinite and grateful surprise, that in so vast a scheme I seem to have been able to read, however little, and that little was encouraging to faith?” (Fosdick, Meaning of Faith, 1918, pp. 138-9).
Another lesson may apply to those times when we feel we are standing in the darkness of life’s tribulations. We may be tempted to think we have been left alone in our struggles. Just as my family members had to be patient and wait in order to see hints of light from the meteors in the sky, there will be times when we need to do the same before seeing the Lord illuminate the darkness of our trials. We must lean on faith to know that His light surrounds us in times of darkness, whether we are able to immediately perceive it or not.
“God is working for you tonight. Heaven is holding conversations about you. Angels have been assigned to you. Be at peace.” (Author not identified)
The most important lesson may be to be humbly grateful for every photon of light God allows me to see. And to be sure that I value those truths, I write them down and review them from time to time.
When God lets me see one of his flashes of light, I intend to cherish it. We are blessed as we attend to those revelations.
Invitation: If you are interested in applying gospel principles to having greater happiness, a better marriage, and more effective parenting, get a copy of my new book, Discoveries: Essential Truths for Relationships—available at Deseret Book or Amazon.
Thanks to Barbara Keil for her insightful additions to this article.
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