Moon at Perigee

Last night the moon was 14% larger and 30% brighter than the normal full moon. Over the last two nights, the moon has been stunning. It is at perigee in its orbit. The moon's elliptical orbit has a point at which the moon is most distant from the earth: its apogee. It also has its perigee: the point in the orbit closest to the earth. At this perigee point, we get a bigger, brighter moon. 

When I looked at that moon last night, I thought, "I want to shine like that! In this dark world, I want to shine like that!" So do I really? Like the moon, do I want to orbit closer and closer to the source of my light? What would that mean for me? For any of us?

You see, I think I get accustomed to God being at a certain distance. God can have so much influence in my life and no more. I am willing to have a certain love and life that looks like it has come under his influence. But I have been tempted to set a boundary to just how close I will get. I have guarded the radius of my God orbit.

My prayer in the moonlight was for God to draw me closer. I wanted the distance between the Light and the satellite to close down, so the light reflected from me would be more and more. I could hear the lyrics to the old song: "draw me nearer, nearer, nearer blessed Lord." Then to the world around and, even to my fellow brothers and sisters in Christ, I could be 14% closer and 30% brighter in the fellowship of Christ and the glory of His Spirit.

What if we all decided to get closer to the Light? What if we and our church were suddenly unhooked from our orbits and began plunging into the very heart of God? Oh how we would shine!

God help us all.