We learned a lot about
the moon, but what we really learned was about the earth: the fact that from
the distance of the moon you can put your hand up and hide it behind your
thumb. Everything that you’ve ever known – your loved ones, your business, the
problems of the earth itself – all behind your thumb; how insignificant we all
really are, but then how fortunate to be able to enjoy loving here amongst the
beauty of the earth itself.
~~ Jim Lovell, Apollo 8
and 13
What was most significant
about the lunar voyage was not that man set foot on the moon but that they set
eye on the earth.
~~ Norman Cousins,
Journalist
 |
| Earthrise |
A couple weeks ago I posted the iconic photo Earthrise in anticipation of Earth Day this past Monday. Hit the emboldened word to see
my post about it, one of the most celebrated environmental photographs of all
time. Though I typically only include Gail’s and my photography here in my
blog, I chose to make an exception with that post.
In doing some simple research on the photo, however, I ran
across some quotes relative to the Apollo moon mission that I thought I’d also enjoy
sharing for my QOTM this time around. You see them above. Additionally, these have tempted me to share a second
famous photo not by us, entitled The Blue
Marble, and I
yield to that temptation here!
 |
| The Blue Marble |
The Blue Marble
was taken nearly four years after Earthshine
was snapped. It’s details? It was taken from a distance of 28,000 miles on December
7, 1972, by the crew of Apollo 17 on the way to the moon, the last of the
Apollo missions. It was the first real time photo ever taken of the fully
lighted, entire earth. Why the first with all the previous missions? Because the
astronauts had the sun fully at their back for the first time. It was also the
first photo of the Antarctic icecap, as it was the first time an Apollo
capsule’s specific trajectory toward the moon allowed it to be seen in that
manner. And as you can see, prominent also in the photo is Africa, Madagascar
and the Saudi Peninsula. Click on the photo itself to the right to see the image in all its beauty.
John Muir, the American naturalist of whom I wrote in January,
referred to the earth not as a blue marble but as a beautiful dewdrop among the
stars. I like that, too.
I don’t know about you, but these famous photos make my
heart beat a little faster, to see the earth as God sees it. So what does God
have to say about it? How about some quotes from the Almighty?
Heaven is my throne
and the earth is my footstool.
~~ God, Isaiah 66:1
Or how about this one?
With my great power
and outstretched arm I made the earth and its people and the animals that are
on it, and I give it to anyone I please.
~~ God, Jeremiah 27:5
I am so glad it pleased God to give it to us. Finally, one
more:
It’s a small world
after all.
~~ God
Or was that one Walt Disney? Whichever, it still fits. God
made it that way. Respond with me if you’d like:
Oh God, You Who have ordered this
wondrous world, and Who know all things in earth and heaven: so fill our hearts
with trust in You that by night and day, at all times and in all seasons, we
may without fear commit all that we have and hope to be to Your never-failing
love, for this life and the life to come; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
(Methodist Book of Worship)
~~ RGM, April 27, 2013
P.S. Next up next week? “From my Journal…”
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