“Latest estimates show that the observable universe may contain a hundred billion [galaxies].”
Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Astrophysics for People in a Hurry
I am still trying to wrap my mind around this statement.
If there were an estimated one billion galaxies, I would be shocked, but one hundred billion? I don’t even know what to say. I knew the universe was huge, but this is absolutely unfathomable.
So, it leads me to think a couple of things:
God created a universe with 100 billion galaxies.
He balances the vastness of space and time, yet loves each one of us unconditionally.
2. We make ourselves too big.
We are so small and insignificant in the vast expanse of space and time.
And maybe that is a clue to discover meaning in life. Instead of making ourselves the center of the universe, what if we embraced our insignificance and increased our awareness of others instead.
What if the entire purpose of life is not to become bigger and more significant, but smaller and less important? What if the most important thing we do every day is what we do in small actions each moment? There is nothing we can do to change the course of the universe, but a lot we can do to help one person.
Think smaller. Don’t worry about the numbers. Help one person at a time and set aside those grand visions for yourself, which in the end don’t amount to very much in the grand scheme of the universe.
As Christians, we believe in the greatest mystery possible: that our God (the God of those 100 billion galaxies) became a man here on earth and let us kill him. Is there anything that could cause greater humility in us?
