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| Winter Sunrise From My Window |
Yesterday was a cold, rainy day in Charleston. Carman, a Christian performer I knew personally, had died so I was grieving the loss of yet another person I love. It seemed too many people I knew and loved had died in the year past. The frailty of life hit close to home and reminded me of my own mortality.
Then a text from my neighbor, Sarah, emerged on my iPhone screen. I welcomed the distraction from my grief and existential reflections.
Sarah was watching the NASA landing on Mars and sent me the link. I immediately clicked on it and began watching the live stream while she and I continued to text.
We became as giddy and excited as two teenage girls about what was happening right before our eyes. As we watched moment by moment, a spacecraft was about to land on Mars!
The NASA team named the spacecraft/rover Perseverance. It landed close to where they wanted it to land. Everyone jumped up and down in celebration. Sarah and I celebrated along with them; I with a big lump in my throat and eyes brimming with tears; she with exclamation points.
I felt so proud of the team that had persevered to accomplish such a feat! And incredibly blessed to be able to watch the landing with them!
I was totally in the moment. Totally in the flow of sharing a cosmic event with my neighbor and the whole NASA team.
The television cameras showed us all around the NASA team's workspace with its computers and large screens. I noted a big banner with the words, DARE MIGHTY THINGS, on the wall. This was apparently the slogan they adopted to guide them as they designed and built the spacecraft, rover and helicopter that would land on Mars and collect important data about previous life there.
Imagine daring to design and build a spacecraft that would land on Mars!
Go Team Perseverance!
Then I saw a depiction of the helicopter they designed to fly in the Mars sky which would augment the rover in finding and collecting data. They named it Ingenuity. One of the engineers noted there is a great deal to learn about how to navigate (take off and land) a flying object on the surface of Mars. The team seems excited and expectant to learn if they got their calculations right. They'll learn moment by moment, just like the rest of us.
I, too, and perhaps many others are excited to see Ingenuity navigate Mars.
Perseverance and Ingenuity have guided the mission thus far as the whole world celebrates their accomplishments with them now.
BRAVO, Team Perseverance and Ingenuity! You inspire me!
How can I dare mighty things myself?
What can I do that will give my life purpose and make it fun while using my God-given gifts in accomplishing a goal that will inspire others?
A worthy question for each one of us.
Am I daring mighty things? Are you?
If not, let us start today to dream big dreams and see ourselves as capable of mighty things.
