Perspectives: the solar system
I received an email yesterday from my mother; she's a big fan of forwardings (most of them being of the "cheer up! God loves you!" variety.) This one was quite different, containing the following text and images:
"Most of us have an idea of the relative size of the planets and Sun, but it's rather dazzling to see it presented this way."
Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky. It is more than 1,000 light years away."
(sigh) And then Mother had to add to a perfectly good science lesson,
"Yet amidst all this, God knows when each sparrow falls. He cares about our smallest problem, our biggest hurt, our every joy. But we need to see our lives and ourselves in perspective. WE aren't the center of the universe. God is. We don't own our next breath. God does. Humbling isn't it?!"
I am so tempted to reply, "Mother, the collection of above images was humbling, until you added in that line about God caring about our problems and hurts and joys. That's not designed to make one feel humbled, but to make one feel special; as if we're each of us really important to God, despite the clear evidence of our insignificance to the universe."
I won't do that, though; she might be utterly insignificant to the universe, but she's significant to me, and I still try not to hurt her feelings by scorning her religion to her face. But sometimes... (sigh)
"Most of us have an idea of the relative size of the planets and Sun, but it's rather dazzling to see it presented this way."
Antares is the 15th brightest star in the sky. It is more than 1,000 light years away."
(sigh) And then Mother had to add to a perfectly good science lesson,
"Yet amidst all this, God knows when each sparrow falls. He cares about our smallest problem, our biggest hurt, our every joy. But we need to see our lives and ourselves in perspective. WE aren't the center of the universe. God is. We don't own our next breath. God does. Humbling isn't it?!"
I am so tempted to reply, "Mother, the collection of above images was humbling, until you added in that line about God caring about our problems and hurts and joys. That's not designed to make one feel humbled, but to make one feel special; as if we're each of us really important to God, despite the clear evidence of our insignificance to the universe."
I won't do that, though; she might be utterly insignificant to the universe, but she's significant to me, and I still try not to hurt her feelings by scorning her religion to her face. But sometimes... (sigh)