“Bend and Stretch, Reach for the Stars”

If you grew up in the ’50’s, you probably remember “Bend and stretch, reach for the stars. There goes Jupiter, here comes Mars. Bend and stretch, reach for the sky. Standing on tip-e-toes oh so high.” It was the little exercise ditty from Romper Room.

It came to mind this week when I saw the latest news from Voyager 1. The little space craft is now about 15 billion miles away from Earth, while its sister vehicle, Voyager 2, is just behind it at about 12 billion miles. The twin probes lifted off in 1977, flew past Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune on their way into deep interstellar space, reaching for the stars. And after 47 years, they are still traveling!

Voyager 1 went silent for seven months, but by some kind of technological magic from the control center back here on earth, they were able to get it sending back messages once again.

Amazing….just amazing.

The whole thing is simply incredible…the fact that in 1977 human minds could create such a craft, and that after 47 years it’s still working, I can’t say that about my lawn mower. Or that after months of silence, they were able to fix the glitch in a micro chip from a distance of 15 billion miles. And most amazing of all is the sheer incomprehensible vastness of the Creation. It makes our small blue planet and the lives of individual folk like you and me seem so insignificant in comparison. The Psalmist must have felt the same as he gazed into the Middle Eastern night sky and wrote:

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens. When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have ordained, what is humankind, that you are mindful of us?

Yet, you have made us a little lower than the angels, and crowned us with glory and honor.

O Lord our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!” –(Psalm 8)

This week we passed the summer solstice.

It’s the first time since the days of George Washington when we had a full moon at the same time as the solstice. This week, as the night sky opens up in all it’s splendor, take time to gaze into the majesty beyond us. Stand in awe at the moon and stars which God has made and consider the mystery of our place in the vastness of creation. Bend and stretch, reach for the stars, and allow the sheer wonder of it all to fill you soul with awe.

“O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is thy name in all the earth.”