With so many people spending time in nature this summer, I thought about this painting. Starry Night is one of the most recognized pieces of art in the world. Its been reduced to coffee, mugs, t-shirts, towels, magnets, etc. There is even a song about it. It feels as if the painting’s fame has exceeded that of its creator, Vincent Van Gogh. 

Though we may be oversaturated with the image, I have to admit I still love it. It's a magnificent study of color and emotion. It was actually considered scandalous at the time it was made, critics felt it was too abstract and Van Gogh even questioned his own style. I've not seen it in real life, yet. (It hangs at the MOMA). But the fact that Starry Night resonates with so many people, is a testament to how its beauty is timeless and universal.

When I was young, I went to a summer camp high in the desert mountains of Texas. One night our counselor woke us up and shook us all out of bed just to look up in the sky. The air was clear and breezy as six 12-year-old girls hopped on bare feet under an inky black dome, to witness shooting stars racing across a sky. Clouds swirled and my head was filled with wonder. 

That was my Starry Night literally. What is yours? God speaks to us through His creation if we will just wake up and take a look.

Psalm 8
1 Lord, our Lord,how majestic is your name in all the earth!
You have set your glory in the heavens.
2 Through the praise of children and infants
    you have established a stronghold against your enemies,
    to silence the foe and the avenger.
3 When I consider your heavens,
    the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars,
    which you have set in place,
4 what is mankind that you are mindful of them,
    human beings that you care for them?
5 You have made them a little lower than the angels
    and crowned them with glory and honor.
6 You made them rulers over the works of your hands;
    you put everything under their feet:
7 all flocks and herds, and the animals of the wild,
8 the birds in the sky, and the fish in the sea,
    all that swim the paths of the seas.
9 Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!