Dec. 21st - The Day The Christmas Star Appeared 🌟

And we only had to wait a mere eight hundred years to see it!

This evening the Hubs and I were blessed to witness an event which occurs only every eight hundred years...the near perfect alignment of the planets Jupiter and Saturn, a configuration commonly referred to as the Christmas Star. We have a close friend who lists among his many hobbies a passion for astronomy as well as deep space photography, and he was kind enough to host a “Star Party” this evening. While the Hubs and I do have a telescope of our own, it is by no means as powerful or impressive as our friend’s, and we most certainly would not have enjoyed such a magnificent view had we relied on the use of our own telescope. We also would not have these amazing photos of the this phenomenon had our friend not shared with us some of the images he captured tonight. The image on the left shows Jupiter and it’s moons with Saturn in the lower right corner, and the image on the right, taken from a different angle, shows Jupiter in the top left corner and a clearer image of Saturn and it’s rings in the bottom right corner (thank you again Brad for sharing your amazing photos). As I gazed through the telescope lense I was overcome with a feeling of awe at the enormity of the universe, while at the same time feeling acutely aware of just how small I was In comparison. There have been many times this year I have felt overwhelmed by what I considered to be the enormity of the challenges I have had to face, but after peering through that telescope and seeing those two planets, millions of miles from earth, appear as if they were close enough for me to reach out and touch, I quickly realized my perceived “enormous” challenges were actually quite minuscule in comparison. With this new found perspective I am certain any challenges I may experience in the future will not feel quite so enormous as they have in the past, and my heart is much lighter because of it. Should you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by the enormity of the challenges you may be facing, please remember they are never so enormous that they can’t be overcome.

Blessings, Candi 💕