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An insight about Prayer on a Night of Moon
If you stand outside on a dark night
and look at the moon,
you know its beauty is available
to anyone who cares to take the beauty in.
(In other words, its gift is universal,
and the moon itself doesn’t shine
for the sake of one person over another.)
But if you stand still, and take the moon in…
If you allow yourself the time and space
To let the light enter your skin and bones…
If you open your arms to its luminescence
and say “thank you” with all your heart,
you will suddenly know that in that time and place
the gift of the moon’s presence is meant for you,
particular to you, and speaking to you,
if you have ears to hear and eyes to see.
So too prayer – and God.
God, like the moon, is universally available to all,
but can only reveal God’s presence/love/light to you
in that “particular-to-you” way
if you take the time to take God in.
So to live a life of prayer means fixing your eyes
on the “moon-God,” even in the day
when the moon isn’t visible,
and on the nights when its light is obscured
by clouds or shadow, by tears or fears,
trusting that if you do so,
its light will call you by name,
and you will know yourself beloved
by the One who knew you before you even were.
And in that moment,
if you look very closely at yourself…
(Truly, look at your arms and your hands,
your face and your heart!)…
If you look very closely,
you will see some moon has rubbed off on you,
and you too have begun to shine.
(A reflection written on a “night of moon,” January 8, 2026, on the occasion of my late husband Michael’s birthday)
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