On this Thanksgiving Day I feel compelled to share with you an experience I had recently (Tuesday, November 15th).

I awoke at 2:30 in the morning and felt this strong urge to go downstairs. Not sure why, but I went. And, like many parents I’m sure, I checked on our two daughters, making sure they were breathing and peaceful. I prayed over them, and then walked around the living room, double checking that the front door was locked, and wondered why I was up walking around.

I decided to head back up to bed, and just before I got to the stairs, I peered out the back kitchen window and saw something striking. Out on our girls’ play-set slide there appeared to be three lights–on the top, middle, and bottom. They looked just like stars as they appear from looking up at the night sky. The middle one also had a crescent on top of it, like a smile. They were extremely bright.

It was so mesmerizing, that I could not stop staring, trying to figure out the cause of this light show that dazzled me so. Now this was the time of the “super moon” when the moon was its closest to earth in decades. So logically, I figured it must be a reflection from the intensely bright and close moon. It’s just that these three “stars” looked to be emanating their own light, again, very brightly. As practical as it seemed to call this a moon reflection, it simply did not appear to be the case as it looked like no reflection I’ve ever witnessed. Also, I stared at these attractive lights for about twenty minutes straight, and they stayed fixed. They did not move. At all. If a reflection, I would expect some movement. But I’m not a scientist.

Actually, the crescent was the one thing that did shift. It morphed over the middle “star” in such a way that it looked more and more like a bird’s wings. A dove.

Transfixed, I prayed, thanking God, asking God what was happening here. The answer I wrote in my journal as follows: “I take this as a sign of you, Trinity–Father above, the Son sent below, and the Spirit, like the wind, ever moving, unpredictable. You are here with us, in this place.”

I felt a tremendous peace as I looked upon this sign and manifestation as the presence of God with us, the truth of the Trinity–that God is Father, Son, and Spirit, here with us in this very place. The shekinah. It’s as if God sent this sign of lights to lovingly to say, “I am here. I am with you. I am three-in-one relationship presence.”

I’m not sure if this gives you some comfort, or causes you to think I’m even crazier than you already suspected–I hope both! Because that would really make me smile.

What I’m really trying to say is that I am most thankful for the presence of God which is very real, even if it’s without a laser light show on our daughters’ play-set at three in the morning.