Being the Moon
I heard a comedian talking about the tongue once. He hilariously articulated how the mouth's muscle makes valiant, even frantic, attempts to release a stuck food particle.
Besides being good for a laugh, this comedy bit was also a perfect description of how the human mind chases worry. Brains struggle to process a problem or concern, not stopping until the problem is "fixed" and the offending issue is resolved (which, often, is never). The subconscious mind will even attempt to solve a problem during sleep. If only this endeavor were as simple as removing a pesky popcorn kernel from a tooth's gumline!
It's not just personal issues that lodge in our heads and stress our minds but also the significant problems in the world. As I write this, I am in downtown Los Angeles. Right outside my window, I see homelessness, pollution, mental illness, and a police helicopter looking for a shooter from an earlier incident.
And in the modern world, we don't even have to look outside our windows to see overwhelming problems: we can see them on our screens. And we want to fix it all. The problem is that we aren't capable of it – we can't even repair the brokenness in our own hearts, let alone heal others.
How do we stop our minds from this fretting and restlessness over problems we can’t solve, popcorn kernels of worry we can’t remove? And do our human limitations mean we shouldn’t even try? Should we shrug our shoulders and give up? What does God expect of us? How do we balance resting in Him and helping on earth without being swallowed up by stress?
While pondering this question, I found myself looking out over the Pacific Ocean at nighttime. Suddenly, after a long day of cloudy skies and no sun, a crescent moon appeared above the sinking cloud cover. As the sun's light, on the other side of the world, shone gently on the face of the moon, that giant celestial rock, with no light of its own, reflected the sun.
This phenomenon reminded me that, as people, we are not the sun. We are not the source of all light. Just as the moon can't warm the earth and grow fruit with its reflected rays, we can't give humanity what it needs to be good. Only God can shine the light that penetrates the heart. He sent that light into the world to heal the broken-hearted, bind up wounds, and bring peace to humankind when He sent Jesus. Pointing others to that light is the only way we can help, and the only way He calls us to help. Like the moon gives evidence of the sun, we bear witness to God. It's a powerful way to make a difference in the world.
Practically speaking, being the moon doesn't mean floating idly by absorbing God's love. On the contrary, it requires sharing that love. But to do that well, we must first turn our hearts to God. Just as the sun's rays only reflect off the part of the moon facing it, our lives only reflect Christ when we turn to Him. In fact, during those times when we feel most powerfully the cold darkness of the universe at our backs is when the warmth of Christ's light is most profound. And keeping hearts focused on God, trusting Him for light, saves us from feeling consumed by the world's darkness.
Reflecting God's warm rays means gently speaking the truth and kindly upholding it in a world that insists on believing and spreading lies. At best, any “enlightenment” that doesn't point toward God or keep His ways and truth is false, artificial light. At worst, it's dangerous.
Being the moon also means having eyes that don't look away, ears that listen well, and feet that move toward others in need. But it doesn't mean helping every person in the world - we aren't omnipresent or omnipotent. We have a limited scope in which to shine. Perhaps, above all, being the moon requires humble recognition of those extreme limits God has put around our sphere of influence. Recognizing we aren't the source of light and focusing on that little corner where our glow is visible keeps us from becoming overwhelmed. We need to rest in the orbit where God holds us.
He hasn't made us powerless; just as the moon's gravitational pull is the primary cause of earth's high and low tides, we hold sway in the world. But our role is never to be the world's savior – only to point to the actual Savior.
As the pain and suffering of the world rise, we can't allow the darkness to obscure God's light in our own hearts or in our corners of the world. Many people will only see His great love when it's reflected in us. We can't fix the world and don't have the power to overcome all of its suffering and woes, but it is crucial that we continually point to the One who is Light itself. By resting in the overcoming power of Jesus, the light of the world, our minds can be at peace, even as the world seems to darken more each day.
As we hold steady in our orbits, receive the light of God’s love, and shine it through words and service only within our sphere of influence, our hearts and minds find rest in the truth that we were not made to be the sun. We are only called to be the moon.
Photo cred: Benjamin Voros on Unsplash