It's the Winter Solstice: The Shortest Day of the Year; Not the End of the World

Today marks the Winter Solstice. Despite all the hype from the doomsday fanatics, today is not the end of the world. Today will have the shortest daylight hours and the longest night of the year. Because the Earth will be tilted perfectly, today your shadow at noon will be its longest. Go outside at noon; take a selfie and post it on Instagram. You can compare lengthy shadows with your friends.

Beginning tomorrow, we'll have more daylight and shorter nights as we journey toward summer solstice. The Mayan calendar didn't discover anything new. Humans have been enthralled with the earth and its correlation to the sun, moon and stars since creation. We will continue to be consumed by these astronomical miracles because despite all the scientific evidence available to us, we are still awed by how the universe operates. God is a genius in addition to being the creator and artist of the universe. 

The Bible shows us that humans have been fascinated with astronomy since creation. In Genesis 1:14-18 we read: 'Then God said, "Let lights appear in the sky to separate the day from the night. Let them be signs to mark the seasons, days and years. Let the lights in the sky shine down on the earth. And that is what happened. God made two great lights - the larger one to govern the day, and the smaller one to govern the night. He also made the stars. God set these lights in the sky to light the earth, to govern the day and night, and to separate the light from darkness. And God saw that it was good."'

One thing is certain. No one on Earth knows when life here will cease. The important question is, when faced with uncertainty how many people would look to God for an answers? 

Genesis 8:22

New Living Translation (NLT)

²² As long as the earth remains, there will be planting and harvest, cold and heat, summer and winter, day and night.”

Matthew 24:37-39

New Living Translation (NLT)

³⁷ “When the Son of Man returns, it will be like it was in Noah’s day. ³⁸ In those days before the flood, the people were enjoying banquets and parties and weddings right up to the time Noah entered his boat. ³⁹ People didn’t realize what was going to happen until the flood came and swept them all away. That is the way it will be when the Son of Man comes."