Night Run

Have you ever run all through the night?

From dusk ‘til dawn? No, me neither…but I think I might like to!

Don’t get me wrong, this is just a fantasy (well, at this stage, at least). I’m a long way from being able to run for that length of time, and besides, it’s the wrong time of year. The nights are very long at the moment, but come the summer….who knows, just maybe I’ll try.

It was an evening run that stirred this idea, and the thoughts that followed, which intensified the idea into a challenge. And who can say no to a challenge. Weatherwise the day had been a classic “4 seasons in 1 day” and was now all but over. Calmness had descended as the sun ebbed away. Another amazing sunset played out across the sky. The sun taking a final bow, dazzling those few who looked up from their busy lives. She exited the stage, but this was no end of show finale, indeed it was merely the warmup act.

The moon now appeared from nowhere. Her entrance was dramatic. She was full, and as unmissable as she was magnificent, and yet up to this point I hadn’t noticed her presence. The sunset had me looking in the wrong direction with all the skill of an experienced magician. Now though, the moon was the star. Above the tree line, dwarfing the silhouetted houses, she was absolutely massive. I honestly don’t think I have ever seen the moon looking so large. And bright. So bright I hardly needed the headtorch, which was handy as I’d forgotten to bring it yet again. This is why I’d timed my run so that I was heading back to the safety of the streetlamps. Streetlamps that were now almost redundant in the silvery moonlight.

This must be one of those special lunar events, I thought. A once in a decade Supermoon or something like that. It was so bright and so big; it gave the impression of being just beyond the rooftops. My pace slowed, I was shuffling along rather than running with any purpose, just taking in this amazing sight. I decided to take a few pictures and message my wife. Share the moment. However, my phone was safely tucked up at home with the headtorch.

So it was several hours later when I finally got to explain to Michele what I had seen. I led her to the ranch slider windows so that she could see for herself. However, now the moon appeared quite normal. Ordinary in fact. “It was so much closer earlier” I explained. My wife gave me a sideways look and said, “You know what this is, don’t you?” I was expecting some derogatory comment about my age or mental stability to follow, but instead she said, “It’s a commonly observed optical illusion”.

I should explain at this point that my wife is a science teacher and understands many mysterious phenomena.  So I too, now understand. What I saw was an illusion. Of course, the moon doesn’t get further away or shrink in size by the amount I witnessed, during that night. It’s orbiting the Earth at roughly the same distance. It’s our perception that changes. When I first saw the moon over the houses, low in the sky, my brain had other objects to compare it with, but later in the night sky those points of reference had gone. My brain was attempting to make sense of what I could see but the perception was not the reality. When the moon is lower in the sky it often appears to be larger and closer, but the moon is always the same size and same distance from us. 

The moon is not the only heavenly body that appears to be very close sometimes and at other times farther away. For all of us, there can be times when the holy spirit seems far away. Sometimes God may even be hard to see, hidden from view by a veil of cloud. We could even be looking in the wrong direction, distracted by other things. The reality is, God is always close. Always constant. He will not move away from you in the dark of the night.