Witness Venus In Transit Here: http://vimeo.com/43563394
Suggested Listening: “Window in the Skies ‘ — U2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cK_q7tEOPA0
Dang it! I missed it. Do you know what solar phenomenon happened on June 5, 2012 that will not be repeated in our lifetime? It’s not an amazing meteor shower, or even a comet, such as the beautiful Hale Bopp comet seen all over the world in 1997. It was the solar event known as Venus in Transit. Here’s how it played out: Venus passed directly between the sun and the earth, but appeared as a black dot traversing the length of the sun on a journey just shy of seven hours. For anyone that would have witnessed this event at an observatory, a museum viewing, or with eyes shielded by welder-grade sunglasses, they would have witnessed a black dot slowly making its way across the sun for approximately seven minutes from their specific location on earth.
This Transit of Venus happens every 243 years, with pairs of transits eight years apart that part company for about 105.5 and 121.5 years. Another words, the next paired transit, won’t happen until 2117 and 2125. This means, we won’t have a chance to witness this phenomenon again, at least not in our resident earthly body.
Wikipedia informs us that this event is both predictable and rare. Predictable in that it has a proven historical track record, but rare in the fact, you have only a two-shot chance of witnessing this spectacular paired journey eight years apart. So if you missed it on June 5, 2012 and also June 8, 2004 then you will only see it now courtesy of cyber space, not celestial space.
I’m sorry I missed this because I still remember Hale Bopp, not because of the freakishly strange cult suicides that resulted from its presence, but because like a diamond in the sky, it possessed the quality of brilliance and extreme rareness. I remember seeing the comet as it blazed across the sky, as a vivid light breaking through the darkness, gently hinting there is so much more here than meets the eye. Looking up, it appeared to be a window in the sky that alludes to something beyond what our mind can surely grasp.
Strange as it sounds, when I saw it from our front porch, my first thought was how it reminded me of the Polar Express train of children’s literature—this magical train that breaks through the night, full of excited children, crossing space and time boundaries to deliver more than just Christmas gifts, but the gift of belief!
This I know to be true in life: There is no such thing as coincidence! I will repeat that until my dying day. I am a firm believer that life is not random, but intentional. We are created to witness some great mysteries and miracles in life, but they will mean little more to us than coincidence without the gift of belief.
I’ve always been enthralled by the mysteries of deep space. It humbles me, because I know that in the grand spectrum of the universe, my allotted space and time is absolutely microscopic. Think about this: Look at all you have witnessed and experienced in your own life, if only up until now: Moments of rare beauty, moments of extreme pain, birth, loss, dreams, obligations, music, love, oceans, mountains, sky, animals, and people—just a small millionth of all you’ve experienced, endured, heard, tasted, witnessed, and touched. Considering the vastness of our universe, is it mere privy that you’ve had the luxury of experiencing so much? You are not like the stationery planets that sit still, changing only on the surface. You are so much more!
You are like Venus in Transit. You are given a mind to assimilate knowledge, belief, events, faith, and experience. Are all these things just random coincidence in your life? Or will you use it and connect the dots in your life, just as surely as a master Creator has an order for the stars and planets that dot our view of sky?
Venus is named after the Roman goddess Venus that represents love, beauty, fertility, sexuality, prosperity and victory—not much–just the pinnacle of our enjoyable side of human existence.
So when I found out I missed Venus is Transit, as I read old unread emails from my museum memberships this morning, I was more than a little bummed. You see, witnessing that would have been another event I know I would have categorized as witnessing a miracle:
Love Passes By; The Sun Keeps Watch
For me, I already believe this. Love passes by. Bono knows this. In fact he wrote a book called “On the Move”. He states that love, and mercy, and God are all on the move. Love is never static! It grows legs and walks into adversity and suffering. It extends arms and hands that provide sustenance, aid, and the potential to hold someone. Love is a cure. But it is not without cost. It puts hearts on sleeves and security on the line and makes us give out of what we’re not even sure we possess. See love knows we’re going to suffer. It knows we’ll see things we’d rather not. Love marches forward anyway.
I keep a pocket full of miracles in my head and heart that no person can ever take away. Though most days I live life with feet planted firmly in terra firma in my town, my heart travels, and in in doing so, it keeps changing. It’s as though a puppet master is pulling the strings of my feet, arms, and heart, as He says, “Over here, child. Over here.” I don’t know if I want to go, or if I’m prepared. I do and don’t want to go.
But like Venus in Transit, a rare and brilliant love capably pulls my orbit across and around the Son’s light. I don’t have to know the future or my exact destination as I journey across the universe. I wish you the same: Let the power of an eternal and regenerating love and light sustain you as you move through life.
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