We were given a special gift this past Christmas. Did you see it? On December 31st, 2009, New Year’s Eve, we watched a Blue moon rise through the dark branches of the trees in Cady Creek Coulee. I discovered that many people who have heard the phrase “Once in a Blue Moon” don’t know the significance of it beyond the general idea that it is refers to something that is rare or that seldom happens.

Usually there are 12 full moons in one year. A Blue Moon is the second full moon that occurs in a month. It only comes around once every two or three years astronomers tell us, so it is easy to see why “Once in a Blue Moon” is rare gift indeed. This New Years Eve Blue Moon was the rarest of all because we won’t have another one of them until the year 2028.

Just last week, God gave us another rare “moon gift”. From January 29th to February 1st, the late-setting full moon made a spectacular show in our western sky. On Friday morning the conditions were perfect. There were no clouds in the sky so as the sun rose, the glorious moon shone brighter and brighter until it finally disappeared into the horizon. The next two mornings the early morning moon set was still amazing, but thin clouds in the west blocked our view until the moon finally slid out of sight.
 
I still have the picture in my mind’s eye of January’s full moon setting on those deep winter mornings engraved on my heart – when God lined up heaven and earth and clouds and sun and moon to create a perfect, miraculous, cosmic event just for us. I will always have that special, once in a life time experience to treasure.

A few days later we woke up to a bright world wrapped in frost crystals. Every branch, twig and grass blade was hung with hoar frost that brilliantly captured the sun’s rays and flung them out, sparkling and flashing in every direction.

God had created the gift by mixing just the right amount of moisture, the right amount of cold, some moonlight just before dawn, he mixed in a little magic and fairy dust, and timed it all to come together at the very moment the sun rose in a cloudless, icy blue sky on that special January morning.

I found myself pulled to the window every few minutes that morning, and it was gone in a few hours. I was glad I took time that morning to enjoy it while I could. I couldn’t get over the amazing gift of beauty that God had graced us with that day. It seemed to be our own private miracle for the day.

It made me think. How many times in a week, in a day, or in an hour does God have a cosmic gift of grace planned for me and I miss it? Maybe I am too busy checking off things on my to-do list, I might be distracted by some personal inner turmoil, or I might just be blind to the beauty of life around me. How many times does he mix up one of his miracle recipes for an unexpected “Blue Moon” moment, and there just isn’t anyone around who can appreciate it?

I want to fix that, God. Let me always be ready to see the magic moments when you make heaven and earth meet to create something so special that it might never come to me again in my lifetime. Give me the kind of heart that makes me your best fan and cheerleader as you go about teaching your creation sing. Let me see, let me hear, and let me sing with it.

Help me to marvel at the acrobatic antics of the chickadees eating our suet. I want to be one who notices delicate bird tracks in the new fallen snow. Help me to see when the sun and the clouds make priceless paintings in the morning and evening skies to dazzle me with their beauty.

Help me to notice all the Blue Moons in my life.

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