Watching yesterday’s news reports of the total solar eclipse, I was impressed by how many people called it a “spiritual” experience. People said that it made them realize how small we are. Many indicated that it brings people together to remind us that we need each other. Some spoke about it being a testimony to the existence of God. Lessons from America’s total solar eclipse of 2024 teach us about God’s power and the brevity of life.
In 1815, American novelist James Fenimore Cooper wrote, “…never have I beheld any spectacle which so plainly manifested the majesty of the Creator, or so forcibly taught the lesson of humility to man as a total eclipse of the Sun.” Modern eclipse chaser Kate Russo said about the total solar eclipse,” You don’t need to know anything about it to feel that overwhelming sense of awe.” She is a clinical psychologist who has studied how eclipses affect people and wrote a book titled “Being in the Shadow: Stories of the First-time Total Eclipse Experience.”
Multiple news commentators remarked about the amazing coincidence that the Sun is 400 times the size of the Moon but 400 times as far away. That “conincidence” allows the Moon to exactly block out the Sun, allowing us to see see its corona. That fact is one of many “coincidences” that enable us to study and learn about God’s orderly creation.
Many people experienced awe as they watched the eclipse. Dacher Keltner of the University of California, Berkeley, is described as a “pioneer in the science of awe.” He defines awe as “the feeling of being in the presence of something vast that transcends your understanding of the world.” Lessons from America’s total solar eclipse of 2024 fill us with awe.
My wife and I took my brother, his son, and grandson to southern Illinois to view the total eclipse of 2017. We agreed to return to the same area in seven years to observe the 2024 total eclipse. We were unable to do that because my brother and his son passed away. My wife and I could not make the trip due to health issues and had to enjoy a partial eclipse from our home. It will be two decades before a total solar eclipse crosses the United States again. There is no question that lessons from America’s total solar eclipse of 2024 teach us about God’s creative power and the brevity of life.
— Roland Earnst © 2024
References: Involarium.org and nationalgeographic.com
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