Once In A Blue Moon...

Today, at 2:13 p.m. EST a full moon will rise for the second time within the month of December. This astronomical event is called a "Blue Moon." It seems a fitting way to mark the end of a decade-- and what a decade it's been!

Do you remember the anxious start to the decade with the "Y2K" scare? We were worried that our computer-driven world would suffer distress because most computer clocks didn't automatically go from 1999 to 2000. Those fears turned out to be unfounded. However, the next year, on September 11, we had a real world-changing scare that has defined the rest of the decade.

Paul Krugman, the New York Times columnist, has called this past decade the "Zero Decade" because it seemed that so little progress has been made in the political and financial realms.

My question is: How do we measure progress? In the spiritual realm, this question is difficult to answer. For, how can the increase of love, hope, peace and joy be measured? These intangibles are probably the most important things in our lives, and have more to do with whether we are healthy and thriving. Yet, they are difficult to measure.

My hope is that the next decade will see a decrease in war and an increase in peace, an increase in reconciliation and a decrease in alienation, a decrease in selfishness and an increase in selflessness. I know this is a big, even unrealistic, hope, but hope by nature defies realism.

For me, a Blue Moon is a hopeful reminder that the universe has existed for billions of years and will continue to exist. Time marches forward into a new decade.