Yttrium

Never heard of it? Most haven’t.

It’s a slivery metallic rare earth metal located in the middle portion of the Periodic Table. It’s not very common on earth — mostly mixed in with other elements and minerals in rocks. But Yittrium does have one fun fact. It was present in moon rock samples that astronauts brought back to earth during the Apollo missions. Its concentration in these rocks was higher than any rocks found on earth. It’s a moon element.

Which brings us to something most people have heard of.

The moon.

There’s just something about it.

I love the moon. So much so that if I were to get a tattoo that’s what I would choose to have inked on my skin forever.

Why?

So many reasons.

I love the fact that:

• It’s a nightlight – its glow pierces the darkness of the night.
• It has a pattern to it – it waxes and wanes in predictable fashion.
• It doesn’t shine on its own – no striving or proving itself. It merely reflects the sun.

But my favorite reason?

It’s the same.

It’s the same moon my great great great grandmother looked at.

It’s also the same moon the Queen of England looked at.

It’s the same moon that Abraham Lincoln looked at.

It’s the same moon that Marie Curie, George Washington, and Pocahontas looked at.

The Jewish calendar is lunar and Passover is connected to the full moon, so after the last supper, praying in the garden of Gethsemane, did Jesus look up at the moon? Did Peter, when he heard the rooster crow, with tears in his eyes look up at the moon?

I like to think that they did. And it’s the exact same moon. I find great comfort in that.

So much of the earth changes. Seasons change. Kingdoms rise and fall. Cities shift and grow. People move. Plants grow. We return to old places to find that they look very different from the way we last saw them. But not the moon.

Every human who has ever lived knows about the moon. It doesn’t matter your race, gender, age, vocation, the language you speak, or the country you live in. Our eyes are all drawn to the same moon. When we look at the moon, we’re the same. Just humans. Humans that are filled with questions. Filled with doubts, worries, wonderings, dreams, joy, and sorrow.

“When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place, what is man that you are mindful of him, the son of man that you care for him?”

Psalms 8:3-4

I’m reminded when I look at the moon that I’m not alone. I think of all the eyes that have looked up at that exact same moon. God saw them through. The psalmist calls the moon,

“the faithful witness in the sky.”

Psalm 89:37

God can and will see us through too.

The moon is a nightlight reminder of God’s light. His goodness and love. Look up. The moon is still there. Reflecting on. And the very hands that put it there are holding us too.