Hope Moon.
“I don’t see it.” I tell the man.
“It’s there. The clouds are covering it,” he explains.
“How can you be sure?”
“It’s right above the sunset.” He searches in the binoculars. It takes him only a few seconds to find the very new moon – Day 2.
He gives specific instructions, “See that light over there? Look at it, find it in the binoculars, and raise them straight up until you see the moon.”
I look again with just my eyes. There is no moon…anywhere, but I dutifully look for the light on the street in the distance and raise the binoculars straight up. “Oh! There it is!” I gasp. “Like the sliver of a fingernail!”
Our lovely young olive-complexioned friend approaches us, “Hello, Ma’am Faylene and Sir Roland. What are you looking at?”
“The moon.”
She looks intently at the blue and orange streaked sky. The layers of horizontal clouds between the brilliant colors look very empty. “The moon?”
“Yes. I call it Hope,” I answer.
She stares at me. “Hope?”
“Yes. Hope. You see, the moon is there. We just can’t see it with our eyes. We must see it through magnification because of the clouds. We have to see hope through the eyes of faith.” I know I am speaking to her heart.
I hand her the binoculars and repeat the man’s earlier instructions. She gasps as her eyes find the beautiful Day-2 moon. She smiles, “I see Hope. It was there even when I could not see it.”
Just as she puts down the binoculars, the clouds disappear and the magnificent sliver of moon shines brightly, complete with earthshine.
“..If we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it.” Romans 8:25 KJV
“Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom also we have access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Romans 5:1, 2 NKJV
