In my days of full time teaching, especially this time of year in the dead of winter, I would get to school before the sunrise and not leave the building until after sunset. Monday-Friday I existed in a world of literal darkness. I sometimes wouldn’t even know what the weather had been that day, if the temperature had warmed or a breeze had picked up or clouds had formed and passed.

I had a room with windows, but I would simply forget to look out of them. I was so engrossed in my classroom that I lost that grand perspective.

Two nights ago, as I was hustling out to my car in brutal temperatures, for a moment I gazed upward and noticed the stars brilliant against the blackness of the sky, and I felt myself open.

Shifting our gaze up and taking in the expansiveness of the sky can provide an instant perspective shift, where the minutia of our daily worries shrink for that moment. There is an invitation to feel our smallness and allow our concerns to fade in the face of such enormity.

I invite you to lift your gaze and open to that grand perspective. Let your world feel a little less heavy, if only for that moment.