thank you, Father!

well, i thought i'd report on my night of star-gazing. as it turned out, the peak night was saturday night/early sunday morning. since there was church sunday morning, with a potluck to follow... which meant getting up early and cooking before church... it was just pretty impractical to go at that time. the article did say that there would still be some amount of activity in the evenings following the peak, so late sunday night we gathered up all the blankets and sleeping bags we could scrounge and headed out to green hill to lie under the stars with my friends and their kids.

if you've never done this before, i'll warn you it isnt for the impatient, especially if you arent out there during the peak period. nonetheless, the kid-in-a-candy-store in me gets all giddy and goofy at the prospect of seeing just ONE shooting star, so i can lay out there for hours watching... waiting. and while there was an occasional sighting, just about everyone gave up within the first hour and filtered back to the warm confines of the house. crissie, tina, her 7 year old daughter christine and myself hung in there, and we finally decided to drive out further to where there was even less light pollution. things got really slow as 1:00 a.m. approached, and as we got ready to call it a night (morning), it was as if God said "wait, here's a little memory for you," and the largest meteor i'm sure i'd ever seen in my 16 years of watching this show hurtled right across our field of vision, and with a flash like lightning, it split in two and blazed out! what a finale!!

but you know what? had there not been a single, solitary meteor or falling star visible that night, it wouldnt have mattered. i got to lie out under a perfectly clear night sky, with people i dearly love, and look at thousands and thousands of stars that my Heavenly Father placed up there for me to enjoy any time i want to! and not only that, He's surrounded me with the magnificence of His handiwork right here on earth... mountains, trees, flowers, rivers, creeks, lakes, ponds, grass, critters and most important of all, people! friends, family, total strangers... made in His image, loved by Him, died for by His Son. so much to be thankful for! so many ways we're blessed!

well here's a little twist on it... while counting your blessings in the days and weeks ahead, take some time to BE a blessing to someone. while you're saying "thank you" to your Father in heaven for all the ways He's blessed you, wouldnt it be really awesome if somewhere someone was telling Him "thank you" for you?

"God of wonders beyond our galaxy....
...the universe declares Your majesty
You are holy... holy!!"
(from "God of Wonders" by marc byrd & steve hindalong)

THANK YOU, FATHER!!