Last night was a gorgeous night. The weather was beautiful and clear, and it was cool without being cold. All four boys were playing in the darkening twilight, laughing and shrieking on the grass. Then Tommy and Teddy turned a corner of the house and came to a complete stop, staring with wide open mouths at the bright full moon.

“Baa,” guessed Teddy. (Ball.)

“No, guys, that’s the moon,” I said.

“Moooom,” said Tommy.

“Mommy, why is the moon shining so bright?” asked Charlie.

“Because the light from the sun is shining on it,” I said.

“But Mommy,” Charlie said, “How can there be sun on it if it’s dark?”

I asked him which was bigger, the sun or the Earth. The sun, he replied. We had the light on the back of the porch by this time and so I held my fist up to it and told him it was the Earth.

“See?” I said. “This side is light, and this side is dark. We’re on the dark side right now.” Then I held up one finger behind my fist (farther from the light) to be the moon. Of course, it was still brightly illuminated.

Charlie started to grin. “I get it! The light from the sun goes right over the Earth to shine on the moon!”

“That’s right,” I said. Then we talked about how Jesus made the moon and the stars so that we could have light in the dark.

“Why did he do that?” Max asked. He had been listening quietly the whole time.

“Why do you like to have a nightlight?”

“So that I can see a little bit in the dark.”

“That’s the same reason we like to have a moon and stars. Even when we don’t have any lights on, it’s not completely dark. Isn’t that nice?”

“Yeah,” Max agreed.

We stayed out a while longer, looking at the moon, before we went inside. I was so thankful for the beautiful night sky and that I could share it with my children.

“Say bye-bye, moon!”

“Baba moom.”

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