I See the Moon

I see the moon

The moon sees me

The moon sees the one

That I want to see

God bless the moon

God bless me

God bless the one

That I want to see

No doubt I learned this little rhyme as a child standing in the backyard with my mother. And I imagine that my daughter learned it from me doing the same. And just as I have wondered who my mother longed to see and who she was asking God to bless, I have certainly done my share of wishing and blessing probably beginning when my would-be-husband was away at UGA until today as I think of my children and loved ones in distant places. After all, isn’t that the job of the moon? To pull? Just look at the tides.

I think another reason I love the moon so much is not only because of the connection it gives me with those here and now but with those of the past. In fact, I used to tell my daughter Marynan, “Do you realize that’s the same moon Jesus prayed under on the night He was betrayed?” There’s something really solid about that for me and enough right there to make me stop and behold. Indeed, the sun lit His way, too, but that sphere doesn’t give me the same connection because I cannot look at it directly. 

Whereas someone who loves the stars is called a stargazer, I recently learned that there’s also a word for someone who loves the moon: a Selenopile. It comes from the Greek words “selene” (moon) and “phile” (lover). Moon lover. That would be me. And whereas many of my friends have called themselves sunbathers, I have been known to moon bathe … which means I just stand in its full glow with my arms outstretched and rotate. Or twirl. There’s no ritual dance here TO the moon, just a basking in the glory of the one whom the Psalmist writes. 

To Him who made the great lights,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting:

The sun to rule by day,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting,

The moon and stars to rule by night,

For His lovingkindness is everlasting.

Psalm 136:7-9

So tonight as I stand under the glow of the full moon, I will be reciting a long loved poem and prayer, I will be recalling the One who both created and prayed under it … and I just might be taking a twirl or two.

God made the two great lights, the greater light to govern the day, 

and the lesser light to govern the night … 

AND GOD SAW THAT IT WAS GOOD.

Gen. 1:16-18