Alkaid

On Wednesday I cycled home after our mid-week service. I have been unwell since Christmas; I have lost some hearing, cannot sleep and have a sore throat each morning. Like some Victorian doctor who suspects his patient is a hypochondriac, I prescribed fresh air and exercise which the bikeride duly provided.

Feeling a little sorry for myself, I paused on a high point of Brogden Lane; the cloud was clearing and a large expanse of clear sky afforded a fine view of the heavens. Several owls were hooting which somehow managed to add to the drama of that dark sky, twinkling with starlight. I was mindful of David’s thoughts in Psalm 8:

When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers,

The moon and the stars, which You have ordained,

What is man that You are mindful of him,

And the son of man that You visit him?

For You have made him a little lower than the angels,

And You have crowned him with glory and honour. Vv3-5, New King James Version

We might be lower than angels, but God in Christ ‘visited’ us at His incarnation and remains with us now, by His Spirit. We are feeble and foolish, but the God of the stars is ‘mindful’ of us. One of those stars I beheld was Alkaid or Eta Ursae Majoris. This is the last star that forms the handle of the great Plough. Although it appears much smaller than our sun and provides next to no light in comparison, it is actually six times larger, nearly four times as wide, and radiates nearly six hundred times more energy. Though Alkaid appears tiny, it is, in fact, gargantuan. And, says David, it is the ‘work of His fingers’.

The powerful fingers that made gigantic Alkaid are perfectly capable of holding you- so rest assured.

Image by Євген from Pixabay