Where were you during the 2017 Total Solar Eclipse?
Lots of people we know travelled to sites on or near the path of totality in South Carolina, Tennessee, and north Georgia.
I didn’t plan or attend a viewing party. But yesterday morning, at the grocery store, I got inspired. I bought some yellow button flowers, a yellow smiley-face balloon, and yellow napkins for dinner. I bought crescent rolls to make Pizza Moons and served them on yellow and navy blue plates (navy being the closest thing we had to the color of space).
Although I had to explain them a little, my eclipsed-themed accessories were a hit with my family at dinnertime.
In the early afternoon, our daughter’s school gathered in the football stadium for games and a moonwalk competition followed by the viewing. As a photography student, she took pictures of the festivities and the eclipse itself. I appreciated her school making it an extra fun day.
My husband Mart came home around noon to watch the eclipse with me. I say "watch" but I confess that I didn't order glasses in time. I probably would not have used them anyway, given all the hoopla about bogus pairs being sold everywhere. I knew there would be plenty of opportunities to see it online afterward.
So, we sat on the front porch with our laptops and listened to the news. When the broadcaster announced that the eclipse was happening in a town not far from us, I went looking for signs of it at our house.
When I got to the driveway, I saw them: dozens of little crescent shapes on the ground. I called Mart over and we started snapping photos. As we walked around, more of the shadows filtered through the trees overhead and appeared on the driveway, the walkway, and in the grass. There should have been some sort of music crescendo-ing in the background, given what was going on in the sky overhead.
Lots of other people posted similar photos on Facebook, but I have yet to see any shots of crescent-shaped shadows on a recycle bin like this. Ha!
A commentator we heard describing all the criteria necessary for this total solar eclipse to occur summed it up as "a great cosmic coincidence."
To me, it’s harder to believe in a coincidence that depends upon a large number of complex factors to line up perfectly than it is to believe a designer put it all in motion in the first place. The precision, complexity, elegance of our universe--the beauty of it--all random?
The equipment that NASA tracks the moon’s path with isn’t the result of randomness or dumb luck. The equipment exists because someone, a designer, created it.
Why not the universe too?
Rather than coincidence, I call yesterday's eclipse a gift, a rare opportunity to see the precision and complexity of the universe at work in an unusual way. Beautifully.
The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands (Psalm 19:1).
Pick a question: What will you remember most about the eclipse? OR Is it harder for you to believe that the eclipse is a cosmic coincidence or a part of a grand design? Why?
