Sir Philip Nicholas Outram Pullman, an English writer once remarked: “The Aurora!"
Her wonder was so strong that she had to clutch the rail to keep from falling.
The sight filled the northern sky; the immensity of it was scarcely conceivable. As if from Heaven itself, great curtains of delicate light hung and trembled. Pale green and rose-pink, and as transparent as the most fragile fabric, and at the bottom edge a profound and fiery crimson like the fires of Hell, they swung and shimmered loosely with more grace than the most skillful dancer.
Lyra thought she could even hear them: a vast distant whispering swish. In the evanescent delicacy she felt something as profound as she'd felt close to the bear. She was moved by it: it was so beautiful it was almost holy; she felt tears prick her eyes, and the tears splintered the light even further into prismatic rainbows.” Genesis 1:14 reminds us: And God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years.”
The Aurora Borealis, commonly known as the Northern Lights, is defined by Wikipedia as a natural light display in the earth’s sky, predominantly seen in high-latitude regions in the vicinity of the Arctic and Antarctic. Auroras display dynamic patterns of brilliant lights that appear as curtains, rays, spirals, or dynamic flickers covering the entire sky. They are often considered a symbol of hope and renewal. The lights are often a mixture of several colors including green, purple and red. They result from the interaction between the earth’s magnetic field and charged particles from the sun.
The lights are believed by some indigenous cultures to have spiritual connections to deceased relatives or ancestors. In Norse mythology, they are considered the bridge between the mortal world and the divine, and the linked pathway for gods to travel between the two. Psalm 3:1-8 reminds us: “O Lord, how many are my foes! Many are rising against me; many are saying of my soul, “There is no salvation for him in God.” Selah
But you, O Lord, are a shield about me, my glory, and the lifter of my head. I cried aloud to the Lord, and he answered me from his holy hill. Selah I lay down and slept; I woke again, for the Lord sustained me. I will not be afraid of many thousands of people who have set themselves against me all around. Arise, O Lord! Save me, O my God! For you strike all my enemies on the cheek; you break the teeth of the wicked. Salvation belongs to the Lord; your blessing be on your people! Selah.”
A bridge is regarded as a structure carrying a road, path, railway etc; that connects two individual components across an open space or void. It is the amalgamation of two separate entities. It is sometimes considered on a spiritual basis to be the link and bond between mankind and God, through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. Job 12:7-10 reminds us: “But ask the beasts, and they will teach you; the birds of the heavens, and they will tell you; or the bushes of the earth, and they will teach you; and the fish of the sea will declare to you. Who among all these does not know that the hand of the Lord has done this? In his hand is the life of every living thing and the breath of all mankind.”
Whether bridges are regarded as individual structural assemblies designed for convectional purposes linking two separate components, or in the spiritual sense to aid unity between mankind and God, both are important and essential aspects of life. On a national level, bridges can improve the economy such as in the case of the Brooklyn Bridge, which transformed Brooklyn into a thriving borough of New York City. On a personal level, they can aid well-being and the overall quality of life by creating individual links to God, which may otherwise be missing, or a positive connection between family and friends which would otherwise remain indistinct or separate. John 14:6 confirms: Jesus said to him, “I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”
In both life and art, bridges can represent a symbol of hope and peace. In life, they have been used as metaphors for strength and understanding. Most bridges are considered safe places to cross dangerous obstacles such as fast-flowing rivers, or deep rocky ravines. It provides firm support where none would otherwise exist in its absence. It conveys the understanding that if the bridge exists, it must be connected to something on the other side. This feasibility can be related to the hope of God which provides a safe passage to all in life in he most adverse of circumstances. In the form of artwork they can represent new beginnings and transitions which reflect an element of optimism and peace. The colors and shadows that are created can reflect their own tranquility. Tommy Barnett, an American author and pastor once remarked: “If you want to be a bridge of hope to the world, you've got to allow yourself to be walked on.”
Walking in the footsteps of God, across a bridge of hope is the closest pathway to safety.in life. Isaiah 40:10-31 reminds us: Behold, the Lord God comes with might, and his arm rules for him; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. He will tend his flock like a shepherd; he will gather the lambs in his arms; he will carry them in his bosom, and gently lead those that are with young. Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand and marked off the heavens with a span, enclosed the dust of the earth in a measure and weighed the mountains in scales and the hills in a balance? Who has measured the Spirit of the Lord, or what man shows him his counsel? Whom did he consult, and who made him understand? Who taught him the path of justice, and taught him knowledge, and showed him the way of understanding? Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket, and are accounted as the dust on the scales; behold, he takes up the coastlands like fine dust. Lebanon would not suffice for fuel, nor are its beasts enough for a burnt offering. All the nations are as nothing before him, they are accounted by him as less than nothing and emptiness.
To whom then will you liken God, or what likeness compare with him? An idol! A craftsman casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and casts for it silver chains. He who is too impoverished for an offering chooses wood that will not rot; he seeks out a skillful craftsman to set up an idol that will not move. Do you not know? Do you not hear? Has it not been told you from the beginning? Have you not understood from the foundations of the earth? It is he who sits above the circle of the earth, and its inhabitants are like grasshoppers; who stretches out the heavens like a curtain, and spreads them like a tent to dwell in; who brings princes to nothing, and makes the rulers of the earth as emptiness. Scarcely are they planted, scarcely sown, scarcely has their stem taken root in the earth, when he blows on them, and they wither, and the tempest carries them off like stubble. To whom then will you compare me, that I should be like him? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes on high and see: who created these? He who brings out their host by number, calling them all by name; by the greatness of his might, and because he is strong in power, not one is missing. Why do you say, O Jacob, and speak, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the Lord, and my right is disregarded by my God”? Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He does not faint or grow weary; his understanding is unsearchable. He gives power to the faint, and to him who has no might he increases strength. Even youths shall faint and be weary, and young men shall fall exhausted; but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint.”
Amen.
