(on Monday, August 21, 2017, I spent the day at Cunningham Falls State Park  in Thurmont Maryland, photographing the atmosphere of the park before, during and after the eclipse. Below are some of my images and thoughts. Eclipse photo below is coutesy of NASA.)

Mondays have a bad reputation as the dreariest, most miserable day of the week. Monday, August 21, 2017, however, was no ordinary day. Instead, this particular Monday was something quite spectacular.

Photo Credit: (NASA/Rami Daud)

The moon passed between the earth and the sun. Hundreds of thousands of US citizens—from Washington State to South Carolina—gazed skyward, captivated by its progress across the heavens. This ordinary August Monday was transformed into a moment of collective wonder and delight.

Whether you witnessed the total eclipse or just a partial—we shared something together!

It’s not uncommon in modern life for us to get caught up in our own lives. Sometimes we find ourselves at odds with our family members, neighbors, or our co-workers or employers. We move mindlessly through the same patterns, routines and problems. Day after day, week after week, month after month, they become deeply ingrained in us and we become stuck. Unmovable. But it’s days like today that remind us that while we might be fixed in our own personal orbits, a moment will come when what we are aligns perfectly with another.

With all that is going on in our world today, this seems both impossible and wrong.

How can we align with something that we see as evil or harmful?

We don’t. On this larger scale, our minor differences and the outlier behaviors of a few are far outweighed. It’s not our beliefs or the ideologies that align. It is the reality of our common existence. The truth that we are not in control and the daily struggle is the very thing we all share. The very thing that connects us.

Do we control gravity or our need to breathe?

The earth doesn’t control its orbit either; neither does the moon. From our perspective on earth, most of the time the sun rises in the east and the moon rises in the west. Every day, for thousands of years, we have come to count on this natural rhythm of illumination. And yet, every day, they remain at odds. An endless dance of call and response.

[bctt tweet=”Every once in a while, we are reminded that there is a world that is filled with wonder and awe. ” username=”lisakoubou”]

But every once in a while, we are reminded that there is a creator who has composed a world that is filled with wonder and awe. It takes moments like this Monday for us to stop and simply look up from our personal orbits. When we do, we are reminded of the world on a grander scale than our minds can comprehend—one where our creator reminds us that we are not in control.

Control is an illusion in our world. We grasp tightly on the tiniest threads of it we can find in our everyday lives, and it can create very ugly things as a result.

But on this day, for two glorious minutes, the earth, sun and moon aligned, and we stopped to watch the moment and celebrate with our neighbors, our friends, our families, our world and our Creator.

Maybe we need to let go of our stubbornness and the illusion of control more often.

[bctt tweet=”Maybe we need to let go of our stubbornness and the illusion of control more often.” username=”lisakoubou”]

Below is the time-lapse of the waterfall, I captured during the eclipse. Share your experience of the eclipse in the comments below.