The Moon's Other Half

The other evening we were driving home, and I was staring up through the car's vista roof, looking at the moon. The following story is the result of that. It started out as a children's story, but about half way through I think I got a little carried away so it isn't any more....but it was fun to write, so who cares if it doesn't have a genre :)

On clear nights, as the lunar phases allow, you can look up at the starry sky and see the Man on the Moon. Even when he is not lit up by the Sun, he is still there, perpetually facing towards Earth. Never once does he turn away, so as long as our feet are planted on the ground, we will never see his opposite side—what scientists have named the “Far Side of the Moon.”

There, however, lies the first thing I must set straight because, for as brilliant as scientists are at naming things, on this point they have got it wrong. You see, the part of the Moon that we never see is most properly called the “Moon’s Other Half,” not the “Far Side of the Moon.”

For the Other Half is the Man’s wife, and her name is Luna.

How do I know this? Of course no one has ever seen her before, least of all me; but just because you can’t see something doesn’t mean it’s not real. To know Luna exists, all you have to do is look with your heart. (You may have noticed scientists have trouble doing that, and it causes problems occasionally.)

Unfortunately, even people who look with their heart can end up confused. They start wondering why the Man never gives Luna a turn to face us. They’ve come up with quite a few explanations, most of which don’t paint the Man in a very nice light. For example, some say he is narcissistic (a fancy word that means he wants all the attention since all he cares about is himself). Others say he is scared of Space, and wants to always keep us in view, with Luna at his back. Still others call the Man a “male chauvinist pig” (they’ve forgotten what their moms told them about not calling names) who wants to keep Luna “in her place.” Finally, some say he is selfish for keeping Luna’s beauty all to himself (she is, after all, the most beautiful woman alive).

So this leads to the second thing I must set straight: the Man’s motive, which is in no way domineering or self-seeking. No; his motive is love. Because he loves her, all the Man on the Moon wants is to protect Luna, his Other Half. He hides her from us to protect her. He doesn’t want her to have to watch all the sad, hard things that we make happen on Earth.

It started with Adam and Eve’s disobedience. He hid her from the folly they made of their freedom by being prideful, and wanting to be like God. Not very long after, the Man protected her from the sorry sight of a sinful Earth, flooded to the brim so as to purify it. Later, he didn’t make Luna watch Moses smash the Covenant when the Israelites lost faith for the umpteenth time. He protected her for thousands of years, because the Chosen Ones would continue to wander and deny their Maker.

He protected her from pagan rituals, where both he and Luna were worshipped and offered sacrifices. That, perhaps, was the hardest for the Man to bear: when we worshiped creation instead of the Creator. Yes, he especially protected her from that through the entire timeline of history, from the Enlightenment to Hollywood.

But also, he was and is always on guard against suffering and mistakes, war and disaster. He hid the Crusades from her vision, and the misguided church and “divinely appointed” kings. He hid her from persecution, and the travesty of slavery and brother fighting against brother. He protected her from the sight of little leaflets falling like snow over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, warning them of impending pain. He protected her from warring Rwanda, and the toppling Twin Towers. 

However, it is the Man’s desire to not only keep his beautiful Luna from seeing bad people, but to keep bad people from seeing her. He knows beauty should never be commercialized, or taken advantage of, or treated as such an end in itself that the heart beneath the covering is forgotten.

Thus, it was with great sorrow that the Man watched King Xerxes summon Vashti (his beautiful wife with a dazzling crown) to show her off at his party. To be treated like a trophy on display, instead of protected and cherished by her husband alone, was too much for Vashti. You know the story: she didn’t come, because she couldn’t give respect without receiving love.

The Man on the Moon, though, knows all this, and understands his Other Half’s desires. So he loves Luna and protects her beauty from any who would abuse it. Even with the Apollo landings, he has made sure none of us have touched her. To this day, none have.

The Man protects Luna’s beauty so she can enjoy the beauty of other things, like galaxies and suns, comets and nebulae. She watches the Stars tell a story of grace and redemption, and forgiveness of all mistakes. They show that God became man, was born of a virgin, and lived a sinless life. His name was Jesus, and humanity killed Him, the Stars say. But He came back to life, and to top it off, He is coming again! On that Day, all will be perfect and beautiful and the cosmos will be filled with joy!

Luna, the Moon’s Other Half, looks at the Stars and she is happy. And not just because she doesn’t have to see hard things, but because she knows her Man loves her and is protecting her with all that he is.