How humbling

Hello www, Thank you Jesus for all the blessings you have bestowed on my life and on the lives of people who read, or don't read, this blog. In Your Name, Amen. I was sent an email recently about the universe that has stayed with me. In this email the sizes of different planets were contrasted. Earth and Venus are comparable in size, but Mercury, Pluto, and Mars are smaller than Earth and Venus. The next photo shows Jupiter and Saturn as the largest planets, then Uranus and Neptune. Earth is the beginning of a smaller line, with Pluto at the end of that line. These planets put side-by-side with the Sun, though, oh my! Jupiter and Saturn look tiny! Then the rest of the chiquitas! The next photo takes us out of our galaxy and demonstrates the size of our Sun to some interesting-looking planets named: Sirius, Pollox, and Arcturus. Judging against these three, our Sun is diminutive! Jupiter is about the size of a pixel! (poor thing, talk about crushing an ego!) Arcturus is beautiful and LARGE. (even the word LARGE isn't large enough to describe it's size!) Not only is our Sun tiny at this stage, Earth is invisible! But wait! There's more to compare! Sirius, Pollox, and Arcturus are shown with two LARGER planets: Betelgeuse and Antares. Antares is mammoth compared to the others! It is by far the most colossal of the planets so far mentioned. At this point our Sun is the size of a pixel. Jupiter is invisible. Antares is the 15th brightest star in the galaxy. It is more than 1000 light years away. The Hubble telescope has shown us entire galaxies billions of light years away. I strive to comprehend what this could mean... How big are we, the email asks. How big are the things that upset you today? AND how big is your God? "Keep life in perspective," it advises. After I pondered this email and sent it on to a few people, the images continued to linger in my mind. I was kind of depressed by the email, actually, and I began to think about all the things I need to do: today, tomorrow...Then I thought, "The things I need to do, they aren't important..." But this is dangerous thinking, and for an optimist, I wondered how I was going to get myself out of thinking of these new images in a negative way. "Well, for starters," I think to myself, "I have an awesome God. He created all of this beauty that surrounds us." I feel a great comfort in knowing God is in control. I was also reassured knowing we are all here, on this infinitesimal, spinning planet, together. When I begin to feel miserable and crappy, and po'ed because I'm teeny and insignificant, the God-feeling/thoughts ignite in my body and mind, flowing gracefully and gently through me, soothing my anxiety and calming me. I'm still going to be the best I can be: the best God would want me to be. No matter how big or small that best is: I matter...to God. Gaaahd bless us!