Serve by Design

Wow! What a year this has been for us! In the fall, we experienced a dazzling annular “ring of fire” solar eclipse during our October 2023 visit with family in New Mexico. Next, and about a month ago, we marveled at a near total solar eclipse here in central Illinois! It was another feeling of déjà vu for us! And to cap it off, this week, we (and millions of others in all fifty states!) were treated once again to another spectacular light show – the Aurora Borealis or Northern Lights. What color and beauty! This latest show has been more memorable because it has extended into a week-long nightly astronomical pageant. Locally taken photograph: J. Goss I am not a scientist, but I do wonder at times how those in this important field of study understand these “sky shows.” A cursory reading around the news coverage assures me that the finest minds have no problem describing this phenomenon in exacting detail. They speak of “solar flares and storms,” “chemical interactions with earth’s magne