We know that a solar eclipse happens when the moon passes between The Earth and The Sun. Yet how is that possible? The Earth’s diameter is 4x that of the moon. It would take 50 moons to fit inside the Earth. The sun is 100x the diameter of the Earth, and  it would take 1.3 million planet Earths to fit inside it. 

How can something as small as the moon manage to blot out the sun? The answer is that even though the sun’s diameter is 400 times larger than the moon, the sun is also about 400 times further away! Yet is still hard to imagine from our perspective that our ‘tiny moon’ could eclipse the shining sun in the sky and create darkness on the earth. 

This got me thinking about another type of eclipse. The word ‘eclipse’ means ‘to abandon’, ‘to darken’, ‘to cease to exist’, or ‘abandonment’. If we imagine our physical sun as being a representation of the Love of God, then what kind of ‘moon’ can blot out the light of His Love?

I think of trauma, shame, abuse, death, and destructive words as objects that can block us from receiving love. The depth of our internal pain can take away hope, as these types of eclipses cast a long shadow over our soul. Unlike the solar eclipse coming soon, our ‘moon of trauma’ can never seem to move out of the way. We can find ourselves in a permanent state of darkness and cold; shut out from the sun’s warming rays.

The sun is still shining behind the darkening object in front of it. Our vision may only be able to see the darkness rather than the light beyond our pain.
“Faith is confidence in what we hope for; assurance about what we do not see.”
                                                       Hebrews 11: 1

Sometimes, in God’s impeccable timing, our eyes are opened to see beyond the veil of darkened skies. His Light begins to break through and we gradually begin to see a new sun-bathed world around us.

“Who among you fears the Lord and obeys his servant?
If you are walking in darkness, without a ray of light, 
trust in the Lord and rely on your God.”  
Isaiah 50: 10