I see the Moon and the Moon sees me. God bless the Moon and God bless me.

I remember singing that song with my children when they were small….looking up at the moon, sometimes in our backyard and sometimes at the cabin. It was always one of those powerful moments of cosmic connection for me. Gazing up at the sky, holding these small ones I love so dearly and resting in the Mystery of it all.

The Moon is never more beautiful to me than in these winter mornings. I am an early riser…it is perhaps genetic….my Dad met his buddies every morning at 5 a.m. for coffee. They gathered and replayed Friday nights’ game, solved the world’s problems and I am imagining talked about their kids and their problems every now and then.

I also rise around 5 a.m. and as I go out to get the paper, I look up at the sky and see that white orb shining down and am always struck with its beauty, its ability to pull me in, its ability to fill me with humility. It is always a holy moment.

Last night at a class I lead, we were discussing all the ways in which humans experience the Holy and in turn use language to describe that experience. Those differences can be  a great source of inspiration and revelation for us but instead often become the place of argument and division. One of the class members said she read something from another tradition that was helpful to her. One of the wisdom sayings of this tradition goes something like this: "The same Moon shines upon us all."

Today my prayer is that as I go about my life, as I read the paper and watch the news, that at some deep place in all our differences, we might remember that the same Moon shines upon us all and the same Creator holds us dear.

I see the Moon and the Moon sees me…God bless the Moon and God bless you.