Nothing.

Ever tried to picture it? Generally we picture an unending sea of blackness. But that unending sea in our heads is naturally a space that has color, and some form of linear time, therefore, something. The reality is, it’s impossible to visualize nothing. We can’t do it. And yet, even though we can’t visualize it, it’s the general consensus of scientists that at one point there was in fact, nothing.

Then, there was something. Matter, energy, space, and time itself burst into existence, converged and expanded and gave birth to our universe. A place so vast, terrifying, and beautiful it is too grand for our feeble minds to fully grasp. A place with such immaculate attention to detail, beautiful and mysterious beyond what we can imagine. And in that moment, in that beginning, a gift was set in motion. The gift that precedes all other gifts , the gift of existence. For we can not experience the gifts of this life until we are here to experience them, but we often take for granted the grand scope of the plan that was required for our existence to be set in motion.

“Let there be”

Let there be. . . . . Light

Let there be. . . . . Grace

Let there be. . . . . Hope

Let there be. . . . . Life

Let there be. . . . . Love

Love. Another thing we cannot fully process. It exists in our gut, in our hearts and minds, and most of all in our actions. When that first “Let there be” was uttered what was set in motion was the gift of love. I believe, love from the Divine.

“Let there be”

Gasses gathered into stars. Dust gathered into planets, which this mysterious force called gravity crushed into spheres. Stars burned brightly until they burned out and exploded which caused chaos all over our universe. But here in this tiny corner of the cosmos, the chaos was only a disguise. A particular star was born, and around it a series of planets that moved at the just right speed, and the just right angle. Something so rare. Something miraculous. One of these planets was more unique than the rest. It too spun and moved at the just right speed and angle, but it was special. It possessed a nearly innumerable series of attributes that gave it the potential for life.

You see, life is the gift. Fourteen billion years ago the giving of this gift was set into motion. To live life to it’s fullest is to receive that gift. That doesn’t mean living for yourself, or your own desires or agendas, but living with grace, mercy, peace, and love. “To humbly and proudly give back what you’ve been given” as Richard Rohr put it.

My hope for this song “Lights in the Sky” is that it can somehow touch on the gift of life. That whoever hears it can be moved in a way that will help them recognize the gift they’ve been given, and push their desires to return that gift. Saint Irenaeus said “Man fully alive is the Glory of God”. Hopefully recognizing this beautiful gift of existence, the first act of love itself, will help us be more fully alive.