Because Life can only be lived a moment at a time.

Right on Time

Right on Time

Rita Pettit

Photo of eclipse totality taken by Mary Bigelow Pettit on April 8, 2024, in Sandusky, Ohio.

Back in 1715, Edward Halley (yes, the guy who has the comet named after him) was the first to accurately predict a total solar eclipse. He used the theories of gravity and orbital mechanics developed by his colleague Isaac Newton to come within four minutes and twenty miles of the path of totality over his London home.*

In 2024, NASA scientists know the schedule of lunar and solar eclipses into the next millennium. **

I learned about the April 8th eclipse almost seven years ago. And I have been patiently waiting ever since.

I had never given eclipses much thought until August 2017. That’s when the last total eclipse passed over North America. Younger Son and family observed totality in South Carolina and his description gave me a yearning to see the phenomenon for myself. When he told me my next opportunity to view a total eclipse in the U.S. would happen in 2024, I asked him to save the date.

Last Monday, that dream was fulfilled.

And it was glorious.

Excitement in the crowd built as the moon crept across the face of the sun. The atmosphere was that of a tailgate gathering or church picnic—folks talking to each other, laughing, pausing every now and then to stare skyward with our paper nerd glasses—for much of the hour prior to totality. But as the moon consumed the last bright crescent no one looked away, and in the final moments we counted down, as if informed by an internal clock, and cheered when the sun was blotted out, with only its glow remaining.

In that moment I felt small. I am small, one person in a world of billions. But more than that. One person on one planet in a solar system, a galaxy, a universe. And it all operates with a mathematical precision I can’t begin to fathom. If the dance of Sun, Moon, and Earth were not so well choreographed, astronomers could only guess at the timing of eclipses.

Perfect order. Everything put in place by Almighty God, the Author of order and Creator of all that is seen and unseen. An old hymn kept running through my mind:

O Lord my God, When I in awesome wonder,
Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made;
I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,
Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art.
Then sings my soul, My Saviour God, to Thee,
How great Thou art, How great Thou art!***

As the sun reasserted its dominance, beating back the moon’s incursion, I vowed to cling to the sense of awe I felt during totality. Chaos seems to be ascendant in these times: war, anger, hatred, and a disregard for God’s order. Just like the Israelites described in Judges 17:6, everyone is doing what’s right in their own eyes.

But the eclipse reminded me that God the Father is still in control. He has a perfect plan created through His incomparable wisdom. I don’t understand it. I can’t understand it, any more than I can explain how a butterfly learns how to soar. All I can do is trust that the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit are dancing to music I cannot hear to bring about beauty I cannot imagine.

Make a joyful noise to the Lord, all the earth!
Serve the Lord with gladness!
Come into his presence with singing!

Know that the Lord, he is God!
It is he who made us, and we are his;
we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Enter his gates with thanksgiving,
and his courts with praise!
Give thanks to him; bless his name!

For the Lord is good;
his steadfast love endures forever,
and his faithfulness to all generations.
Psalm 100 (ESV)

Eclipse totality surrounds us with sunset.

Chasing Sleep

Chasing Sleep

Christ Is Risen!