Psalm 19:1
The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship.
Oh my, it is hot out! My pool was registering 86 degrees! Would that even be refreshing? I went in the pool anyway and began to ponder these hot days. The expression ‘dog days of summer’ brought a picture of my dog when I was growing up. Her tongue would be hanging out and she would be panting hard. No matter how much water we gave her. Her furry coat enrobed her like an Alaskan sled driver in the iditarod. It kept her that warm too! It would seem that the ‘nick name’ for the days between July 3rd and August 11th fit perfectly. Many of us grew up with that expression and talked about these hot days as we wiped the sweat from our brow, sipped ice cold lemonade and floated in the neighbors pool.
Did we ever thing anything different about those days? Dog days of summer always conjured up the vision of the overheated and lethargic family dog laying on the only piece of shaded concrete side-walk she could find! But let’s think about that expression again!
In ancient Greece and Rome, the dog days were believed to be a time of drought, bad luck and unrest. Dogs and men alike were said to be driven mad by the extreme heat! Thank God for air conditioning! Today that image is not quite as vivid as we are cooler and more civilized, for the most part. Instead, the ‘dog days’ are associated with the summer’s peak.
This period of sweltering weather coincides with the helical (meaning ‘at sunrise’) rising of Sirius the dog Star. Sirius is part of the constellation Canis Majoris-the Greater Dog. This is, of course where Sirius gets it’s canine name, and it’s official name Alpha Canis Majoris. Our own sun is the brightest star in the sky and Sirius is second!
It was believed in ancient Greece, Rome and Egypt that the rising of Sirius in mid to late summer is what caused the extreme heat. They postulated that the rising of Sirius along with our Sun star in the highest point in the sky, is what caused the scorching heat. In fact, the name Sirius stems from the ancient Greek word, seirios meaning ‘scorching’. Sirius also coincided with the Nile River’s flood season. Ancients would watch for the rising of that star as a ‘watchdog’ that preparations needed to be made as flood season was approaching soon.
Think about this; our Great Creator God placed those masterpiece stars in the sky for what seems now to just be markers for us to view standing with our telescopes and be in awe. Yet, just as the ancients watched the stars to determine the weather, we have been able to watch the stars with incredibly powerful telescopes that the ancients did not have. With the most recent photos that returned from the James Webb Infrared Telescope, images of distant galaxies were seen for the first time! Webb’s image covers a patch of sky about the size of a grain of rice held at arm’s length by someone on the ground. Thousands of galaxies-not constellations-not stars, but galaxies are seen in that tiny sliver.
If you ever feel like you are a ‘big shot…think about that rice sized sliver of sky with thousands of galaxies hand made by God-and think again!
If you ever feel like you are a nobody, think about those galaxies and remember, He made this planet just for you! You are His favorite! By the way, I am too!
Go out tonight, or a clear night, and find that Canis Majoris is the sky during these ‘dog days’. Remember that constellation is the real story behind the ‘dog days of summer. Praise the Creator while you are watching His masterpiece!
Leave a Reply