Lights in the Firmament

Genesis 1:14-15
 Then God said, "Let there be lights in the firmament of the heavens to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs and seasons, and for days and years; and them be for lights in the firmament of the heavens to give light on the earth"; and it was so.

When one thinks of lights in the sky, what does one think of?  Primarily the sun, the moon, and the stars.  Genesis even continues to describe that on the fourth day of creation, God specifically hung those great lights in the sky to "give light on the earth, to rule over the day and the night, and to divide the light from the darkness" (1:17-18). 

However, those are not the only lights God put into the sky.

On a warm, summer evening, with stars glittering above in a cloudless sky, streaks of green danced in front of the Big Dipper and across the northern sky.  In some places even a touch of pink flirted with the with the green, as they streaked and darted in front of the stars. 

Of course, Aurora Borealis is caused by the solar flares from the sun, and there is a scientific explanation of how it works, so technically you can say that it is part of the sun, but it does no justice to the mysterious beauty God has created.  Isn't the hand of God something that He can take a bands of green light like water color and paint them across His wide canvas in restless streaks that never cease their rippling dance across the heavens?  The Northern Lights are just one more example of our Creator's creative genius. 

Sweeping, dashing, dancing, flashing,

Green shoots across the sky;

Heaven's canvas painted o'er

Like water colors spilled on high.

Leaning back to look straight up,

I see it flash as lightning will;

The green streaks move with swiftest speed,

Racing for the sky to fill.

Lower down horizon-way,

It, restless, dances with the stars;

The Dipper fades 'neath verdant waves

That change to ripples, sweeps, and bars. 

Then the colors move and travel on,

For nothing there is permanent,

 But God's great hand still holds the brush

To paint Aurora 'cross the firmament.