To Infinity and Beyond!

One of the things I like to do is to go for a walk before bedtime, usually a gentle stroll across my local park. Not of course when it is freezing outside, but certainly during the warmer months and evenings. It is a wonderful way to end the day and to get some air before turning in for the night.

The Awesome Night Sky!

Usually, I walk slowly, just listening to the night sounds and praying – yes, I pray as I walk. When I reach the middle of the park I stop and gaze up at the night sky. There is a clearing surrounded by trees in the middle of the park so that you can see the sky without the view being too polluted by streetlights. On a clear, still, balmy night, with the moon and stars visible overhead, it is an awesome experience standing there trying to drink in, and understand, the scene.

You see, one of the things I have a problem with is infinity! My mind just can’t take in the concept that if I climbed into a space rocket and took off, I could just keep going on and on and on and on forever and never stop, never come to the end. The scientists tell us infinity is a fact but its beyond my comprehension. But as I stand there and my mind travels out to the edge of this universe and to all the universes beyond, I realise how massive it all is, its size is beyond description. And then I come back to our solar system which is comparatively small on the grand scale of things, and then to this earth which now seems even smaller, and then to little England where I live, then to my little park, and then to me, a minute speck of dust, and I feel very small.

And yet, as I stand there, I feel very much a part of creation. I am not a looker-on who is gazing at the planets, the trees, the grass beneath my feet etc, I am a part of that creation. I belong! You belong! And when I think about the real me, my character and personality, my soul, I am almost overcome with the awesomeness of it all and the fact that I am here. Sometimes I think, ‘Why am I me?’ rather than somebody else. But my mind can’t quite wrap itself round that one either. Nor the fact that I, just a minute speck of ‘dust’, have significance!

One day as I was gazing up at the night sky, an owl flew right above my head and landed in the tree beside me, and do you know what, it was absolutely silent. He made not the slightest whisper as he flew. It was a really awesome experience, something special, and I was a part of that.

People say that this all just happened, some happy accident, some big explosion which somehow produced me! I can’t grasp that thinking and I can’t see me and my surroundings as being anything but created. The night sky, space, the trees and shrubs, that silent owl, me – just a chance happening? I understand that it is not easy to grasp the concept of a God who is somewhere and everywhere, but it seems harder to me NOT to believe in a God. And if the concept of God having always been there and going to continue to be there for eternity bothers you, then just think about infinity. You see, time and space, eternity and infinity, are not dissimilar! Its just that one is accepted as fact!

So try it! Take a night walk and gaze up at the sky and consider ‘infinity and beyond’, and see what comes into your mind. It might just change your life!

Thanks for visiting Time to Reflect and for reflecting with me. I hope it has given you some food for thought.

(All words and pictures on this site are copyright of Terry Yarrow)