Blue Moon Moment (By Les Kovacs)

Bible Verse: “As God’s fellow workers, we urge you not to receive God’s grace in vain, For he says, ‘In the time of my favour I heard you, and in the day of salvation I helped you.’ I tell you, now is the time of God’s favour, now is the day of salvation.” (2 Corinthians 6:1-2)

When something occurs very rarely, there are several words or phrases that we can use, such as: uncommon, unusual, sparse, or singular.”  Sometimes, we’ll just say that it happens “once in a blue moon.”  That expression comes from the fact that the moon can appear blue or bluish-green when there is a lot of dust is in the air, such as after a volcanic eruption, or during hot, dry and dusty weather.  It doesn’t happen very often.  And due to the moon’s monthly cycle, of 29.53 days, all the months of the year, except February, will have at least one full moon.  Months with 30 or 31 days will occasionally have two full moons.  When this happens, the second full moon is said to be blue, even though it rarely has the blue tint provided by unusual atmospheric conditions.  Every 19 years, February lands completely outside of the lunar cycle and it won’t have even one full moon.  As a result, both January and March are blessed with two full moons.  Rare indeed.  Infrequent.  Uncommon.

Do you ever have blue moon moments in your life?  What are the things that rarely, if ever, happens to you?  When I’ve this question of other people, some have said a great round of golf, the kids doing their homework without being prompted, finding a truly comfortable pair of shoes, being genuinely and deeply satisfied.

That last one struck a chord with me.  As I grew in my previous career, I would participate in a mentoring program with some of the younger members of our team.  One time, however, I was connected with an older man, who was nearing retirement.  His name was Morris.  He had recently lost his wife to cancer, was occasionally showing up at work hungover, and his work was beginning to slip.  Since he was a valued and long-time employee, HR asked me to work with him to try and help him through this obviously difficult time.  As we got to know each other better, he became more comfortable with sharing some his challenges.  One day after work, he just unloaded his history of pain in my office.  As he explained his guilt over past failures, his current insecurity, and his fear of facing the future alone in his retirement, he seemed to be swallowed up by helplessness and despair.  Morris seemed to physically shrink in his chair from being a rather large burly man to a child unsure of how to deal with his fears.
We worked for a large company at the time, which was trying to be inclusive of all people in their workforce, and sharing our personal faith was not encouraged.   But as I sat listening to him desperately seeking something positive to hold onto in his life, I couldn’t help but think of the difference Jesus had made in my life when I came to know Him.  So I threw company policy out the window, and I explained what God had done for me, and that same transformation was available to him, too.  I explained God’s unfailing love for him; His willingness to forgive his past mistakes; His delight in helping Morris rebuild his life, and giving him hope and a new future.  Morris was overwhelmed.  I could see God’s love touch his heart, and with tears streaming down his cheeks, he said to me, “Why, in these past 64 years, hasn’t anyone else ever talked me about Jesus like that?”

Experiencing the deep and abiding love of Christ may be “once in a blue moon” experience for many in our society today, but is doesn’t have to be.  God’s love does not have lunar cycles, it is not rare, uncommon, or limited.  Like the sun, it keeps shining whether we see it or not; whether we feel it or not.  It is available to anyone, anytime, anywhere.

If you miss a rare blue moon this year, don’t worry, it will be back.  If you know someone who has missed the love of Jesus Christ, don’t worry about that either, it’s available to them right now…if you tell them about it.