Heavenly Changes

Every morning I look to the heavens, ink black and forever deep, like a bottomless sea. Only the stars and planets poke bright holes in the darkness creating the heavenly arch and giving the illusion that they wrap around the earth like a blanket.  My routine each day is the same.  I wake at the same hour and I follow the same path one half hour past waking.  My responsibility to my animals is unwavering, steadfast, and pleasant in its predictability.  Each morning Orion and Cassiopeia stare down upon me, like guards eternally loyal in their duty.  One would think it is a mundane chore, boring in its routine. However, it is anything but that because the one thing that changes in this daily march is the Earth, and that change, however infinitesimal, alters the dynamics and breathes life into every day.  How boring it would be if nothing changed!  How can I not love the changes brought about by weather and season and the turning of the Earth and our path around the Sun? The changes give us joy and hope and often keep us on our toes.   
Every day I step out of the barn and I gaze at two bright planets overhead.  I watch them dance. They step and slide and spin as the days pass, moving to the rhythm of the Earth’s music.  They dance in the Earth’s celebration of the next season.   As much as I love to watch these two planets dance there are days I leave the barn and I am distracted by conversation or the raucous behavior of the dogs. On those days instead of lifting my eyes to heavens I strain my eyes to follow my dogs in the blackness, listening intently to be sure they run to the gate.  But they too are creatures of habit and despite the cold, or blackness, or rain, they chase one another on a predictable path.  So because of those mornings that I am distracted, or when the clouds block the heavens, I may not see the planets dance for days.  But when I lift my eyes the next time I am able it always gives me pause to witness just how much they have changed positions.  And it is during those moments I feel the weight of the universe and its enormity because I wonder what have I done in the time it took distant planets to move and the earth to turn and the moon to go from full to waning?  What great things have I done, if any at all?   And then I wonder…is the universe simply God’s way of showing us how small we really are?