Those gardeners who plant moon gardens have my admiration. I never indulged myself in creating a place where we can enjoy the flowers that open as the sun goes down, but it sounds like a wonderful way to enjoy the best part of the day — the evening.
There is an unparalleled wonder in flowers that exhibit that rare characteristic of opening up AFTER the sun sets rather than when it rises.
It does not detract in any way from the wonder of the flowers that seem to love the sunshine and open up in response to the first faint rays. However, during the time that the gardener is forced to sit down and rest because she cannot see clearly enough to work, it is a welcome sight to see the opening of the “late bloomers.” Datura, Ipomoea, Jasmine, Evening Primrose, Nicotiana, and Four O’Clocks are some of the rewards for getting through a hard day in the yard.
Many of these plants depend on their intense, sweet fragrance to attract pollinators, rather than the bright colors of their mid-day counterparts. In much the same way, the moon is attractive to us after the heat and work of the day, in a different way from the sun’s welcome sight as a new day dawns.
“There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs from star in glory” (1 Corinthians 15:41, NASB).
This past week, many of us across the United States witnessed the extraordinary phenomenon of a total solar eclipse. In this case, the glory of the sun and the glory of the moon came together to create a unique, astounding event; which amazed us with such wonders as a corona visible to the naked eye, Bailey’s Beads, the diamond ring, and shadow bands. Darkness covered the earth for a couple minutes in the center of the moon’s path in the middle of the day, while we experienced a drop in temperature.
Days later, many of us are still in awe at God’s power, glory, and majesty exhibited in his sky. The perfect design of the size of the moon and the distance from the earth astounds us, as it all worked together to perform this memorable celestial dance.
And yet, when Paul speaks of the different glories, he was comparing the amazing earthly bodies we have to the glorified bodies we will have when we are resurrected. Are you awestruck at God’s design of the heavenly bodies or the physiological wonders of our own bodies? Ha! These are just the inferior shadows of what is to come.
“However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural; then the spiritual. The first man is from the earth, earthy; the second man is from heaven. As is the earthy, so also are those who are earthy; and as is the heavenly, so also are those who are heavenly. Just as we have borne the image of the earthy, we will also bear the image of the heavenly” (1 Corinthians 15:46-49).
Think of it — The son of God will illuminate Heaven, like the sun illuminates the “heavens.” We will be looking back at memories of our wonderment of the physical heavens with the new knowledge that it was nothing compared to the glories we will be seeing.
“And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (Revelation 21:23).