I’m laying down with nothing between myself and the sandy earth. Looking up at the black sky reveals an abundance of stars. The breeze is gentle and slightly warm. The sound of the Colorado river roars from the distance. Tonight is a special night to be watching the stars. There are the remnants of a meteor shower from previous evenings supplying me with a steady show of shooting stars. I have seen more than three dozen, sometimes they will scream across the sky disappearing in a blink of an eye while others float across lazily leaving a bright burning trail that lingers for several seconds. The lack of any city light – or any light for that matter – and the absolute clear sky makes for a rare view of the night sky.

The sky is so clear and the stars so plenty that they appear to form clouds in space. Maybe its the Milky Way. Its the eerie silence and lack of illumination that makes places like this so special. It makes me feel so alone in what is presenting itself as a universe larger than anything I am capable of fathoming. I am such a small part whose existence is as relatively short as the shooting starts painting the skies right now.

I’ve run out of wishes!

How blessed I am to be able to witness something so wonderful yet so simple. There are faint flashes of lightning so far in the distance that it carries no sound to me. As I lie here thinking about all the obstacles, chaos, and events the next five days will bring I find solace in the fact that my nights will be peaceful, lonely, and calming.

I feel inspired by so many different things but I believe that at the root of my inspiration is love. The universe is so vast yet I feel I like a shining beacon of love that is capable of touching every star and every object in the universe. I can only hope that the ones that love me can feel the touch of my love, even hundreds or thousands of miles away. Love is hardly explainable, or quantifiable. I believe it may go as deep as supernatural, spiritual. Something that is capable of touching your soul and the soul of another simultaneously. The energy for this love may be supplied by the stars in the universe. It may be supplied by God, something that every living thing is capable of experiencing on some level.

The peace brought on by lying under the stars, alone, miles from any city, is somewhat overwhelming. I feel emotions I don’t normally feel driving in my car or sitting behind a computer monitor. It has enabled me to connect to myself in ways not possible in a different – more hectic – environment. The time poverty I suffer in our fast moving society makes the reflection out here so rewarding – and likely necessary. We get so caught up in accomplishing the next task that we forget to take a moment for ourselves.