Several months ago, I started an article about the December 21, 2020 conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn.  I never finished the article, and today, I went back and re-read what I had written:

I’ve read articles about the celestial event, and watched the sky all afternoon, begging the clouds to part so that I could witness first-hand this incredible convergence.  I love nature and am fascinated by space.  (I’m a Star Trek fan – need I say more??) My telescope was ready, aimed southwest, eager to focus on the planetary dance.  If the clouds would just give way, even if only for a few minutes, I’d be thrilled.  If anything, the clouds got thicker.  One more sinister laugh from 2020. 

It’s been a long year.  I’ve avoided writing about Covid because frankly, I’m sick of it (no pun intended).  I’ve stared at the computer screen, straining my mind to produce stories of anything but Covid, the election, the doomed economy, the rioting and division in our nation and around the world.  The result?  I’ve written almost nothing.   The voices in my head are begging me to write something – anything.  But, my refusal to write about the common themes of the past year has rendered me literarily impotent.

“Rendered literarily impotent…”  That really struck me. I couldn’t write – something I live and breathe…

It was a long year.  I can’t deny it.  I think the last year impacted all of us seriously.  Whether we lost jobs, battled the virus, watched loved ones battle it, felt overwhelmed by the election and the terrible division in our nation, or were weighed down by the isolation during the quarantines, we each have some story to tell about what the last year did to us.  What I realize from re-reading what I started writing last December is that I allowed those events to steal my joy and my work.  I was focused on the “stuff” and forgot to lift my eyes.  I was robbed of some great things because of what I had allowed to distract me.

The conjunction on December 21^st was compared to the Star of Bethlehem on the night Jesus was born.  The planets were aligned in such a way that they appeared to touch.  That alignment led kings from other nations to travel to Judea to search for the child the “star” announced. They knew the dangerous journey on which they embarked was worth their effort, for it would lead them to One greater than anyone or anything they had encountered before.

What I failed to remember that cloudy day last December is that the “star” was still there.  I couldn’t see it through the clouds, but it didn’t change the fact that Jupiter and Saturn still aligned.  My inability to see didn’t stop this magnificent convergence.  It happened.

I had quit writing because I didn’t want to write about the “plagues,” and I was disheartened by the cancelled book signings and speaking events.  I allowed myself to be dragged into the pit of discouragement.  I forgot to look to the One who was already working it all out. I also forgot to be who He had created me to be – a writer and storyteller.  The events hadn’t changed who I’d been called to be.  I had just failed to see.

We do that in so many areas of our lives.  We get discouraged and frustrated by events and forget that there is something far greater than what our eyes can see and our minds can comprehend.  We get so focused on the clouds, that we fail to look higher, to look to the One who created those planets, who orchestrated their movements.  God has already been there.  He knows the end from the beginning and already has a plan to “work it all out for our good.”

“I will lift up my eyes to the hills. From whence comes my help?  My help comes from the Lord who made heaven and earth.  He will not allow your foot to be moved; He who keeps you will not slumber.  Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep. The Lord is your keeper; the Lord is your shade at your right hand. The sun shall not strike you by day, nor the moon by night.  The Lord shall preserve you from all evil; He shall preserve your soul. The Lord shall preserve your going out and your coming in from this time forth, and even forevermore”.  Psalm 121

Lift your eyes.  Look up!  That’s where your help comes from.  We don’t ignore what’s going on in life, but we can’t allow ourselves to become so focused on the trouble that we lose sight of the beauty.  Clouds may cover the sun, but the sun is still there.  Whatever is going on in your life, look up.  Don’t forget who you are and whose you are.  The Lord loves you and has far greater things for you than you can possibly see or imagine.