“The night walked down the sky with the moon in her hand.”

– Frederic Lawrence Knowles

For the past week, there have been quite a few clouds in the sky.  Even when we would go outside at night, there were no stars to be seen.  The moon was shrouded in the heavy mist that kept us in the darkness.  Yesterday the clouds gathered again and sent us scurrying home from the playground with our little granddaughter, Harper.  With dark clouds booming behind us, we hurried up the alley toward the sanctuary of home.  Ahead of us, the sky was clear blue with only a few puffs of cottony white cloud.  Behind us, the thunderheads rose and threatened us with their booming shouts.  ”Danger!”  ”Take cover!”

I scooped up the little one as we walked briskly toward the light.  Ahead of us, in the late-afternoon sky, I saw that the moon had decided to come out to play in the daylight — perhaps making up for her lost nights behind the clouds.  ”Look!” I said to Harper as I pointed toward the heavens, “the moon is out in the daytime!”  ”Moon!” she repeated, stretching her own tiny finger to point alongside of mine.  A quick chorus of “I See The Moon and The Moon Sees Me” later, we found ourselves running between the raindrops and into the dry sanctuary of home.  Our outdoor time ended, we settled into some reading and popcorn and a bit of Snow White, courtesy of Grandpa.

Soon, Harper’s family returned, and we gathered her belongings and walked them to the car.  With kisses and hugs and a few more kisses, we sent her on her way.  As the car pulled away from the curb, my eye caught a patch of silver-white in the sky.  There was the moon, displayed in her full glory in the extended palm of the hand of night.  She seemed to glow more brightly than usual; and it made me wonder whether she was working extra hard to reclaim her beautiful status after so many nights of being hidden by the clouds.

I wondered about our own light and the way it sometimes seems hidden from sight by the darkness and difficulties of light.  I smiled as I caressed the thought that when the darkness dissipates we can glow more brightly than ever.  With storm clouds at our heels, we still can move toward the promise of a moon that hangs in the daytime sky, warming up for her brightest moment as the darkness is overcome.