Like A Nibble from a Cookie – an Eclipse

 

Like a nibble from a cookie, the first sighting I had of the eclipse made me want to ask, “Who did it?”

Who took a bite of the cookie?!

While my kids think I was the worst at figuring out guilty parties, I did a better job than they realize. It’s true that I never could tell if the second-born was telling the truth, but I still knew. All I had to do was watch first-born, who was as honest as his Grandpa Slabach. By watching first-born’s face, I could tell if second-born was lying or telling the truth. Even if first-born wasn’t there when a mishap occurred, he knew whether or not his brother was lying or telling the truth, and his face told all.

I figured that out early, and I was smart enough not to let them know that I knew.

I was also good at finding tell-tale signs, letting me know when something happened and who all was involved. There was the time we found a pacifier in the middle of boxes of seed in the corner of the office. My husband was positive it was our oldest (who adamantly denied it, so I believed him), but the pacifier confirmed that second child who could barely walk had been in that corner, digging into the seed.

While I couldn’t always tell if a child was being truthful when he said he’d brushed his teeth, I still knew. I learned to put toothpaste on the toothbrush. If the toothbrush still had the paste on its bristles, it had not been used. Sometimes when I didn’t get to the bathroom in time, I just checked to see if the brush was wet. I was smart enough not to tell my kids that, or they would have been running water over the brush just to make it wet, thereby appearing that it had been used.

Sometimes a mother’s instinct lets her know who done it. We can often predict the responses of our kids or others we know well. Yet, none of us can predict like scientists, who are able to explain and predict things that we never could understand on our own.

However, before scientists understood what they know now, a total solar eclipse in 840 upset an Emperor so much that he died a few days later. For three years, his sons fought over who was going to rule Europe. Finally, the land was divided into France, Italy, and Germany.  Each son had a land to rule.

If only they had understood the eclipse before it actually occurred! When we know and understand, there is no reason for fear.

This past Monday, along with millions of others, we watched the partial eclipse in our area. For a few moments, daylight changed to dusk.

Hummingbirds that had been feasting at my feeder minutes before disappeared to their nests and birds became silent. Crickets started their evening song while quail chirped their “Bob White!” call around two o’clock in the afternoon! For those moments, I began to feel tired and sleepy, for it seemed to be nearing the end of the day. There was no sunset, but a soon-coming-darkness-feeling occurred.

We watched the moon cover more of the sun, and soon an entire half of a cookie seemed to have been devoured.

A cloud cover caused more darkness with no cookie sighting. Thirty minutes later, there was just one bite of cookie left. We got to watch that, for the clouds had moved on. One little bite, and that’s all there was.

Who did it?  Who “ate the cookie”?

This time, I didn’t have to wonder, I didn’t have to ask any of my kids. I knew. We all knew.

Every one of us knew that this was happening. There was no need to begin sleuthing. No reason to fight over territory. No reason to ask any questions.

Who orchestrated this? Who was behind the “eating of the cookie”? It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to know the answer to this question. Only God.

Our almighty, awesome God. That is Who.

Even though scientists predicted this and knew the path of totality, it was not done by their orchestration. Even though we knew the approximate time for the eclipse to occur in our area, no man set those times.

Whose idea was it? Not man’s.

Who chose the path of the eclipse? Not man.

Who designed the solar system and planned its orbits? Not man.

Who “ate the cookie”? Not man.

No one else could design or plan or orchestrate such a phenomenon.

We have an instinct. If we are honest, we know. We know there is a Higher Power.

Who orchestrates the eclipse?

Only God. That is Who.