I've always wanted to see the Northern Lights.
A couple of years ago, my husband and I took a trip to Canada and Alaska. It was a wonderful holiday. There were so many highlights: the dinosaur bones at Drumheller, beautiful Lake Louise and the Rocky Mountains, seeing a grizzly bear (thankfully from the safety of a chair lift), black bears, caribou, salmon swimming upstream, humpback whales bubble fishing and a pod of orcas, to name a few.
We really enjoyed our cruise from Vancouver through the Inside Passage to Alaska, and I hadn't thought about the possibility of seeing the Northern Lights. So you can imagine my disappointment when the Captain announced over the loudspeaker that they'd had a spectacular view of the Northern Lights from the Skydeck of the ship the night before. How had it not occurred to me that I might see the Northern Lights from the ship?
So, for the next two nights while we were still heading north, I set my alarm to get up and try my luck. I checked my app, and there was a slight chance of seeing them. I checked my compass to make sure I was looking in the right direction. I took a lot of photos, but the best I got was a faint glow of colour on the horizon.
Back at home, I started paying more attention to my aurora app, and one night, it seemed that everything aligned for a chance to see the Aurora Australis, if we could only find somewhere dark enough to see it. So off we went, in search of the elusive coloured lights. The pictures here are two of many photos I took with my phone. I know the quality is poor, but I was excited to see the colours appear.
This experience reignited my appreciation for the grandeur of God’s creation. Every day begins with a sunrise and concludes with a sunset, each one a unique masterpiece. No two sunrises or sunsets are alike, their colours shifting in shade, tone and vibrancy as they reflect off the clouds. I’ve always enjoyed photographing sunrises and sunsets, but now capturing the aurora has deepened my appreciation of the sky’s colour palette. I’m awestruck by the vast array of colours the aurora displays, the consistent yet unique artistry of God’s handiwork and the sheer joy it brings.
The heavens proclaim the glory of God.
The skies display his craftsmanship.
2 Day after day they continue to speak;
night after night they make him known.
3 They speak without a sound or word;
their voice is never heard.
4 Yet their message has gone throughout the earth,
and their words to all the world.
Psalm 19:1-4