The sky lights up with each explosion.

The lights outline the innocent faces gazing with awe at the spectacular beauty above.

We are rendered speechless for a moment… caught in this moment.  One of the moments you wish you could capture and hold.  Wishing I could bottle this very time… tight.  I would hold it ready to release when the world seems to be just a little too much.

Spontaneously, with the crescendo of each dazzling light, the little ones jump up from the blankets stretched across the dewy grass.  They just can’t contain the joy.  The joy explodes from them with every eruption from the sky.  Squealing, spinning, dancing in the night to the light given only by the candles in the sky that celebrate our country’s birth.

this is a time to remember, mama

Yes, it is, my little one.  She knows this… even her youth sees the beauty of this place, right here.

My heart swells as I hear the whispers shared in the dark.  Sisters, arm in arm, wrapped in this moment.

I love you

I love you, too

The space carved out for us right  now… in this field… under the electric night sky.  They can’t help but pour out their love to one another.  It is a moment to joyously share this love.  Nothing seems more perfect than right now.

I smile.  There is something more perfect.  This must be a glimpse of what it must  be like.  Our home.  The place we were made for.  This joy.  This love.  Just a shadow of the glory that waits for us as we try to peer through the tiny holes in the night sky… pierced by each burst of light.  Straining to see through to the other side.

The display comes to a spectacular end.  The cheers are followed by a hushed gathering of blankets and children.  Smiles glow in the night light.  The light, I notice, is coming from the moon.

Stunning.

God displays His candle

The moon glows an orange I have only seen a few times in my life.

Mama, I’ve never seen the moon look like that!

I’ve never seen it look orange.  Oh, look!  You can see the man.  His face in the moon!

I have not seen the face on the moon clearly in my life.  Ever.  I really couldn’t make out the face I had heard about so many times.  Until now.  There it is.  Watching us.  I see it clearly tonight.  I have a thought.  I don’t have the thought alone.  We gather into the car… all eight of us.  (This is never a small feat).  We watch the moon.  The fireworks fizzling in the distance.

Mom, you know what the moon is making me think of?

Hm?  I smile to myself… knowing the thought I share with my child.

It’s making me think of God’s face watching us.

My son shares my thought.

He is watching us, you know.  He is always there.  Watching us.   

Unlike the glow of the face on the moon… He is only a breath away.  He is in our every moment.  Bottled inside.  Tight.  He’s holding us tight.  Watching our every move.  Knowing our every thought.  The moon just a flicker of His glorious light.

My youngest son, trying on his new word…

this night isn’t the best night ever…

it’s the epic – est…

It is that, my sweet little one.  It is Epic.

Revelation 21:23

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.