RUACH
When I think on these words in the empress of silence, and behold the Creator's heaven shining brilliantly with the work of His hands; how small I become in the cowled night, while meditating upon the vastness of the universe - space, time, matter, infinity, and timelessness.
How I wonder where you are;
Up above the world so high
Like a diamond in the sky.
"When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars that thou hast ordained; what is man that thou art mindful of him . . . O Lord our Lord, how excellent is thy name in all the earth" (Psalm 8:3-4).
You cannot shape one single forest leaf,
Nor fling a mountain up, nor sink an ocean deep,
Presumptuous pigmy, large with unbelief!
You cannot bring one dawn of regal splendor,
Nor bid the day to shadowy twilight fall,
Nor send the pale moon forth with radiance tender,
And dare you doubt the One who has done it all? (Sherman A. Nagel, Sr.)
Some years ago, I marveled at my first ever sighting of a comet. As Hale-Bopp raced across our early evening western sky, it became an old friend. I, with telescope, followed its daily visits until an orbital change sent it inexorably into the bowels of space, to await its next advent. I will not be here for Hale-Bopp's futurity. Time is now catching up with my greying years, but what a first sight!
It was impossible, after each day's observation of such an awesome gift, to quickly pack up, and emotionally leave in the same state of mind in which I had arrived. For you see, the unknowns associated with seeing a comet can have a profound effect on one's psyche. At least, I found it to be so. One could only sit quietly, and ponder on a new trajectory; or on its perpetual motion like some gigantic ravenous bug devouring everything in its path; or to consider its pre-Adamic genesis in what only seems to be a cosmic wasteland, while legendary portens of doom agitated my mind. "I sought the Lord, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears" (Psalm 34:4).
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