Although we could see Mars from our yard, the lights in the neighborhood dimmed our view. So late one night near the end of August we all piled in the car to pursue the red planet before its distance from the earth increased and its brightness diminished.
Headed more or less southeast on highway 20, with Mars, like the Star of Bethlehem, leading the way before us, we drove until we had left the city lights behind. Standing by the side of the country road we found the night astonishing — there were myriads of stars invisible in town, with the Milky Way in a broad swath across the sky. Reigning in splendor over the lesser lights was the red planet Mars.
Our grand view was not only because Mars was closer to earth than it had been for 60,000 years, but also because we were unhindered either by city lights or our own inattention. The only distractions were the garish headlights of an occasional car.
In our dreariest moments we may feel that God too only comes close to us every 60,000 years, but of course this is anything but the truth. In reality, even when we are not aware of the divine radiance, God is always near.
Sometimes lesser lights distract us. Sometimes we are too preoccupied to notice God’s presence. Other times it may be simply that the rhythm of the spiritual journey takes us into a period of dryness, or even that God is calling us to an encounter deeper than our normal ways of experiencing, so that the only way we know how to describe its luminance it is in terms of darkness.
In all of these and at every moment of every day, whether we are gazing in awe at the night sky or scrubbing the bathtub, God is with us. According to Meister Eckhart, “I am as sure as I live that nothing is so near to me as God. God is nearer to me than I am to myself; my existence depends on the nearness and the presence of God.” Thanks be to God that nothing is so certain as that nearness of the God who loves us and whose glory infinitely surpasses that of the stars and the planets and the vast sweep of the Milky Way.
“The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed;
nor will they say, ‘Look, here it is!’
or ‘There it is!’
For, in fact, the kingdom of God is within you.” (Luke 17:20-21)