Watch with Glittering Eyes

Source: Etsy

Magic. My word for the summer.

But what is magic? Certainly it's not the hocus-pocus spells and brews of witches and warlocks. Those things are make-believe, not real. Certainly it's not the illusions and redirections of magicians. Those things are tricks and deceits.

Magic--the real kind--is what happens when our souls encounter the great mystery, recognize it, and appreciate it so profoundly, so deeply, that we are changed somehow, made better, softer, stronger, more grateful for every little gift that life gives us. Magic is transformative...a blessing, a growth, a maturing.

Surely you have looked up at the night sky and experienced magic. How strange it must have been, hundreds of years ago, to look up at the sky and not know that a point of light might be, in fact, billions of stars so far away that we can only see them as a single dot of light. How strange to think that earth was ever thought to be the center of the universe.

How fresh and new our earthly perspective is these days!

Furthermore, our intellect knows that the speed of light means that we're seeing into the past every night. The light from those stars left home millions or billions of years ago. We see only the past of the night, not what is now. Whatever is going on now out amongst the stars is an even bigger mystery than our ancestors could have imagined.

As we learn one thing, another ten mysteries pop up. Like magic. And if we pursue them with glittering eyes, we learn their secrets, see new mysteries, and discover the delight of endless surprise.

How grateful I am that I will never know all the answers!

What scientific mysteries spark your curiosity? Have you ever had your perspective changed so completely by a new discovery or realization that you felt like you had, indeed, experienced something magical? How comfortable are you with having to adjust your thoughts as mysteries reveal themselves to you? Do you resist or do you embrace this magical transformation?