When I was a teenager, my Dad preached a sermon entitled “The stars still show the sign!” He talked about the fact that when he was a kid living in Thunder Bay, Ontario, every year at Christmas he could see the Big Dipper in the sky through the small window in his childhood bedroom. Every year, without fail, when December rolled around and people began to celebrate, that window would frame the part of the sky in which the Big Dipper was visible.

Dad made the point that just as the star showed where the baby was in Bethlehem, the sky that he could see through his window still had a different character when it came time to celebrate Jesus. (Don’t be super impressed with me remember one of Dad’s sermons from my teenage years – one of his elders drew a little sketch of the window frame with the Big Dipper visible through it. He titled it “The stars still show the sign!” and gave it to my folks as a Christmas gift, they displayed that sketch and I looked at it more times than I could count!)

The sky has always been magical to me. I love sunsets and interesting cloud formations. I adore rainbows. As a kid, I’d get to see the Milky Way and the Northern Lights every summer when we vacationed at my grandparents’ cottage north of Thunder Bay. And now that I’m living in the country, away from a lot of light pollution, I get to see some amazing skies. I’ve seen the Milky Way here at the farmhouse. I’ve seen the Northern Lights here, too.

Tonight I glanced out through one of my windows and saw a beautiful moon. I went out into the cold night and took some photos. I sent one to Mom and she told me it’s called “the cold moon” and is the largest moon that we will see this month.

It reminds me of a line from Andrew Peterson’s song, “Labour of Love”: “But the baby in her womb, he was the maker of the moon, he was the author of the faith that could make the mountains move.” It’s not quite as cool as the stars still showing the signs of the Saviour’s birth. But for me, the sky spoke of God tonight. And that’s always a blessing!

If you’re looking to hear “Labour of Love” check it out here:

This Advent, may you see God in a beautiful sky, a wonderful song, or simply in the face of other people. May you be amazed every time you see God.