What Shape is the Moon?

How Leila Judith Grace Impacted Our Family

My church friends often hear me say, “The moon is always round.” 

Perhaps some are tired of me saying it or rehearsing what it means to others, but I don’t care.

I have a photo of the phases of the moon in my office. My son and daughter have the moon's phases on the wall in their bedroom. I have the phases of the moon on a T-shirt I wear often. My family and I have been conditioned to think of one thing when we see the moon glowing in the night sky: the moon is always round. 

How did I randomly grow an affinity for the moon and this not-so-ground-breaking scientific discovery?

One day, I was handed a children’s book by Jonathan Gibson called, you guessed it, “The Moon Is Always Round.” 

Intrigued, I turned on a podcast interview about the book. My heart was captured as I drove, and I found myself wiping away tears so frequently that I nearly had to pull over.

The Catechism

The book recounts the true story of a dad (Jonathan) and his three-year-old son (Ben) rehearsing a tiny Catechism they made up:

Q: What shape is the moon tonight?

A: Full, gibbous, half, or crescent moon.

Q: What shape is the moon always?

A: The moon is always round.

Q: What does that mean?

A: God is always good. 

He was trying to teach his son the simple truth that, through whatever season, no matter how we perceive it, God is always good, just as the moon is always round, even when we can’t see all of it.

Then the unexpected happened. 

After much waiting and anticipation, Ben’s little sister died in her mother’s womb at 39 weeks and was delivered stillborn. As you can imagine, Jonathan and Jackie felt like the ground had dropped from beneath them.

After taking Ben to see his little sister, Leila Judith Grace, in the hospital, Ben asked a series of heartfelt questions on the way home as he sought to conceptualize the painful reality of not having his sister come home. In one way or another, Ben asked, “Why, Daddy?”

Jonathan finally responded, “Ben, I don’t really know why. But what shape is the moon?”

Ben replied, “The moon is always round.”

“And what does that mean?”

“God is always good.”

“That’s right,” he said, as tears streamed down his face.

It happened to be a half-moon that night, perfectly capturing how Jackie and Jonathan felt. It was hard to see the whole of God’s goodness at that moment, but it was crucial to know that God is always good even in darkness.

Then at the funeral, as a family of three, Jonathan was on the platform speaking to those gathered. Jonathan, knowing that his son Ben will grow up having many questions about why his sister died so young, addressed Ben in the middle of the service and asked in front of all, “What shape is the moon, Ben?…”

My Family

My wife and I read this book with our children often. Death is not a subject that we keep hush-hush at home. Being gripped with our own mortality, we follow up every bitter conversation about death with the sweetness of God’s good sovereignty displayed in the darkness. The place we see this most is at Calvary where, on the darkest of days, the light of the world was crucified.

His cross and resurrection reveal His infinite goodness, grounding the promise of hope beyond the grave.

As a family, we have experienced much death and have wept with those in our church family who have recently lost children. It rattles us. It suffocates us and causes heartache. But these are opportunities to remind each other that if we have Christ, we could lose everything and still lack nothing.

It’s God’s soul-anchoring goodness that prepares all of us for suffering. Though it isn’t the temporary solution we all want, it’s the eternal comfort we all need.

We can face the future unafraid because…

When the woeful diagnosis comes in, the moon is always round.

When we don’t achieve our dreams, the moon is always round.

When the ones we love most deeply cause the deepest pain, the moon is always round.

When destruction ensues because of our sin, the moon is always round.

When death unexpectedly ransacks our joy, the moon is always round.

When we are in our last moments, staring death in the face, the moon is always round; God is always good.

Indeed, “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations” (Psalm 100:5).

Get the book here!