Aurora Borealis

Noticing What's Barely There

Last night my beloved and I were driving back from having supper with friends, when we noticed faint rays of light stretching across the Iowa sky, from the North. It was probably about nine o'clock, and too late for any sunset, but there wasn't any moonlight, either. The pale, white rays seemed to undulate slightly, and toward the West, they even had a little reddish glow to them, dancing with the yellow-white.

It didn't take us too long to realize that we were glimpsing something special, the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights. I'd seen bits of them before, on midwinter nights, but never had I seen half the sky traced out with them like a filmy curtain that way. We drove out on a country road, away from the lights of towns, to get a better view.

It was cold, and so we didn't stand outside the car for long, but for a while we just stood there praising God for the pulsing, slowly shifting waves of magnet-light. In some places, the rays grew like towers; in others, it was softer, like feathers. Today, it makes me think about the Psalm referring to the "shadow of God's wings." Wow, we kept saying. Thanks be to God! We were in wonder, at how great it was, and yet, how easily we could have missed it, if we had let the dashboard lights of the car absorb us, as we drove.

Such subtle beauty, and so unexpected. God just can't get over loving us, you know? His abundant grace is subtle, yet beyond imagining. No matter what we do, no matter how we mess up, He insists on giving us His best. We don't deserve it. "Look at this," He says. "I came up with something amazing for you today...it's my best, it's from my heart and it's especially for you. I'm hoping that you notice the love...that maybe you'll even notice me."

Thanks, God, for unexpected waves of light, and unexpected waves of love.