Moon rise over Zanzibar

To see a world in a grain of sand,
And a heaven in a wild flower,
Hold infinity in the palm of your hand,
And eternity in an hour.
William Blake – Auguries of Innocence

Last week, on the sandy shores of the island of Zanzibar my little brother, Joshua, caught the moon.

I can’t stop looking at the picture.

All the beauty and wonder and mystery of the vast unknown grasped between forefinger and thumb.

He was there from South Africa for a wedding. Twenty five miles off the Tanzanian coast, Zanzibar is a 60 mile strip of sand only 20 miles wide. Located in the Indian Ocean it’s 6° south of the equator.

From behind her lens Megan captured something that is diminished by my words.

But I can’t help but try and translate with 26 letters what her hundreds of pixels spelled out.

There is Truth so much bigger than me. Beyond me. But I reach for it regardless. On  tippy toes I strain up against my limitations. When I glance over my shoulder, surprisingly, there it is.

Simple. Within fingers’ reach

Christ Jesus:
Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be grasped,
but made himself nothing,
taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness. (Philipians 2: 5-7).

A baby grows inside a belly. It pushes new feet into space where lungs once breathed deep.

A promise is born into our midst through a woman.

She holds a universe of truth cradled in her hands.

No illusion. Utterly accessible.

We just have to reach for it.

What a gift.

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Shared with the Community over at Chatting at the Sky and Heavenly Homemakers who stop on Tuesdays to contemplate the extraordinary.