Early morning on September 9 I just knew we were being invaded by a spaceship.  A massive ball of light looked dangerously close.   I was walking in the morning darkness but quickly ran into the house to ask Tom what was going on in the eastern  sky.    He immediately checked his reliable source for answers to my often strange questions, “Barb, it  is Venus.”

Now, in case you are thinking  I was a bit juvenile in my supposition,  Venus is often misreported as an unidentified flying object. “U.S. President Jimmy Carter reported having seen a UFO in 1969, which later analysis suggested was probably Venus.” Wickipedia

So began my pre-dawn treks to watch Venus in all her brilliance; I have become a morning star gazer. She rises before the sun–brilliantly.  I  began my Google study in Astrology 101 and learned that Venus entered the morning sky this year on August 15;  she will leave it on June 6, 2016 and then will be Venus, the evening star again.  She was most spectacular early morning on September 21.  I have learned new words–transit time, elongation, conjunction–all detailing the cycles of Earth’s closet planet, Venus– and other planets, as well.

I have waked and walked with Venus since that morning.  Did I not learn this in middle school science class?   It was only in the early 1960’s that scientists learned that Venus  rotates backwards or  clockwise, different from the other planets.   Maybe the information wasn’t in the text books for my education way back then:-)   Jupiter joined Venus as a pre-dawn star in late September and now in October, Mars can be seen, too.    Mercury is there in the morning sky after the sun comes up.

Pre-dawn awakenings  have been glorious here in middle Tennessee.  I hope you have seen Venus and Jupiter, wherever you are these September and October mornings. But you have to peer out before the sun comes up–or you will miss them.

I know this great big, Creator God who “brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name” (Isaiah 40:26) cares and knows my name and  your name.   But sometimes I need a reminder.  One dark morning watching the dazzling lights in the east, after having researched information, I marveled at the scene displayed above.   I stood in awe of the countless years, yes, thousands of years, that these planets have made  scheduled conjunctions and cycles across the skies,  I was struck anew that this great big God  is just as involved in the paths that I am on.

Summer has been colored by disturbances at our address.  Tom has experienced weeks and months of pain, due to a fall in June.  He has recently had a partial knee replacement; he walked with pain before surgery and he now walks in a different kind of pain.   We had a small bathroom renovated and  ‘things and stuff’ were in disorder.  I wondered that normal would define us ever again; I had been ‘blog-less’ far too long.

It was that morning  the Lord so clearly spoke to me of His security and care–no matter the changes and discomforts in life, no matter the cycles in life, “He who determines the number of stars and calls them each by name, is mighty in power; his understanding has no limit.” Psalm 147:4-5

And He will guide us through the cycles and seasons of life just as surely as He has  guided Venus and the planets since time began.

These are my poor attempts to capture what I saw two mornings.  I should have taken one every day. I wish I had taken one on that September 9 or the 21st. But I had stars in my eyes!    This web site has awesome photos taken around the world.

http://EarthSky.com

Gazing upward and outward.