[Editor’s note: Throughout Lent, Sandra McCracken will be sharing weekly writings, each of which is tied to a song from her new EP, Songs from the Valley, available at her website. Below you will find the fourth of these writings, to be read alongside her song, “Lover Of My Soul” which you can listen to here.]
I have had a thing for the moon since I was a little girl. One time it burst out in front of me, above the street and the traffic lights on my birthday. Another time it surprised me as it crested over the bathtub one morning in Florida, just behind the window shade. And in Tennessee in the fall, it shows up so large and red and low above our street, shining stark and mellow like a dim-lit bowling alley lane. Many restless winter nights, the moon’s reflective light has stayed up with me all night in my upstairs room. And in Oregon last summer, midnight was as bright as the afternoon.
Every one of these times, and on countless other occasions, the moon has been one sure way that God has captured my attention and my affection. I have felt the love of God through the surprise of these poetically timed, ever-changing moon scenes.
How is it that God can send gifts to each of us in such unique ways, all around the world, all at the same time? St. Augustine famously said, “God loves each of us as though there were only one of us.” The moon is a perpetual reminder of this important idea.
Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.
Do you remember the book Harold and the Purple Crayon? Harold draws himself out of his room one night, into the town, has some adventures, eats some pie, runs into some trouble and tries to draw himself home. When he gets lost, he finally manages to draw his way home by drawing his window around the moon. The window frame he draws helps re-orient him so that he can finds his place again; his bed, pillow, his crayon. On the last page, he drops his purple crayon on the floor beside him as he drops off to sleep.
I’d like to write pages full of songs to express what this single song is trying to express. It is a thimble full of what I mean to say about how loved I feel by the God who gives me the moon, over and over again. I cannot get over how he delights to take our breath away with moments of joy and surprise—for each of us in particular ways. He is the Lover of my soul, without a close second. He is the fulfillment of my truest desire. And when I am lost, he guides my purple crayon back to the shape of the window around the moon so I can find my way home again. He leads me home and gives me rest.
Suggestion for Prayer: Like the moon, what is the means where you have been most aware of God’s love for you? Ask him to remind you of times in your story that he’s been close beside you but you’d maybe never thought of it before. Talk with him like a friend and recount times in your life together with him. Ask him to help you feel his love for you.
Click here to listen to “Lover Of My Soul” from Sandra’s new album, Songs From The Valley.
