Drove up to see the grandchildren under a vanilla ice cream sky Thursday morning, happily perched in my purple Kia Sorento. I’ve named her Theodosia. I drove a Tahoe for 23 years, “Bertha,” and it’s taking a while to get used to a smaller SUV but I am loving it and all her bells and whistles. Just a drizzle of rain followed me up to Peachtree City. Not a peep of sunshine did I see.

Friday was just beautiful, bright gold sunshine filtering through the trees in their back yard, blue fall sky, cloudless and clear, crisp and cold. It was a too chilly a day for porch pondering so I sat at their kitchen table watching my grand-dog run around in the sunshine, watching a doe eat one of the children’s Halloween pumpkins. They throw their pumpkins in the woods, bursting them open for the deer to snack on.

My oldest grandson’s high school football team is in the state playoffs and we went to the game Friday night at Lakewood Stadium in Atlanta. I love watching my grandson perform in the marching band. I had been to his symphonic band concert Thursday night. He was so handsome dressed in his tuxedo for the band concert. He’s enjoying marching band, too. Made me tear up Friday night when they were playing their school fight song and he turned his head over to look at me. Our eyes met and I could see his sweet smile under that mellophone mouthpiece. I treasure all my high school band memories and I’m sure he’ll do the same.

As we were driving to the ballgame on the interstate the traffic was fast and busy. I felt safe with my son’s driving but my hands were sweating. I just hate interstate traffic. It honestly scares me. I turned my head to look at all the lanes of traffic on the other side of us and I saw the most beautiful moon rising through the trees. The moon was huge, resting on the crest of the pink and mauve and pale purple colors of a magnificent sunset. The whole sky was illuminated by this supermoon. I had read about it earlier in the day but forget about watching for it. Supermoons are larger than a regular full moon, like a quarter compared to a nickel. That’s the last full moon for 2024 and it was so handsome. I could feel God’s presence in that glorious glowing moon.

In the Bible, the moon is a symbol of God’s glory and a testament to his enduring love, a symbol of faith that lights the spiritual darkness on our paths when our faith is tested and we don’t feel God’s presence. Watching the moon as we travelled made me think of this Bible verse — “When I consider your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars, which you have set in place,” Psalms 8:3.

Biblical scripture reads “the moon and other heavenly bodies show the glory of God.” Christians are like the moon when we reflect God’s love and light to others. Psalms 148:3 reads, “Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.” We have God’s light in our hearts, a reflection of God’s grace. Just like the moon reflects the sun’s rays we can light up the darkness in another’s heart by sharing the warmth of God’s love.

“The moon, like a flower in heaven’s high bower, With silent delight sits and smiles on the night.” —William Blake