lessons of the moon

I write this under the sleepy, half-drooping eye of the waning Adar moon. It is 42% full and on its way to getting smaller. (I know this courtesy of the nifty gadget I have installed on my desktop - which you can access by clicking the title of this post.) It is wrestling itself free from the tangle of branches that have captured it just outside my window.

These moments of encounter are always a delight. It is as if I have once again discovered one of the greatest shows on earth unfolding on the biggest stage we know free for the asking. But these moments also conjure up a bit of regret. They carry the same emotional mix that comes with bumping into an old friend. On the one hand, we are thrilled to see them, to gaze upon their face, listen to their voice and be in their presence. On the other, their very presence reminds us how much we miss them.

To rediscover the moon means that I am aware of how often I ignore it. Each time I promise to be more faithful, more attentive, more present. And each time I am not.

The moon, though, is very forgiving. It always comes back. And today, as I again make my amends, my apologies and my re-acquaintance, I think about the complex character of this glowing orb: the constancy of its transit over the stretch of a year and its changeable moods across the course of a month.

On the one hand, the moon, like the sun, plies a predictable path through the expanse of heaven, day in and day out, year in and year out. No matter the storms that are raging or the fights we are having. No matter if everyone is watching, or no one is. The moon is faithful. It will pursue and complete its journey.

On the other hand, unlike the sun or the stars, the moon is fickle, presenting a new face on a daily basis. Open or shut, dark or light, joyous or fearful. In this, it is just like many of us, fighting or celebrating or sometimes surrendering to the moods and passions of each new day.

There is much that the elegant joining of these two aspects – change and constancy - can teach us. We are volatile creatures, after all, tantalized by, dependent on and subject to change. We are also stable creatures, soothed by and in need of repetition, return, and the constancy of home. The moon offers us a way to weave both into our lives.

Even as the daily storms of life swirl around us, catching us in their vortices and turning us all about, even as we seek adventures that sail us past the ends of our maps and send us off the edges of our world, we can be comforted by the constant passages we are bound to keep, the well-worn paths now ours to trod, the promises that lead us home. Change and constancy; surprise and habit. The moon is our model in this complex dance.