Looking up at the Earth, I could see my home 240,000 miles away. I moved into my spacecraft's shadow to get a better view without squinting. It was a brilliant blue and white world floating in a shiney black sky. From this great distance, the collective problems of an entire planet are small beyond recognition. If there really are angels, is this the view they see? Reaching up, I balanced the Earth between my gloved thumb and forefinger. Our world, the whole earth was safely cradled in my fingertips.

Looking down at the Moon, the crisp gray dust was a perfect pallet to contrast earth. From a distance, Monet might have painted our planet as a brilliant blue blur. Some truly great paintings are best appreciated that way.

At first, it may seem I have painted my right finger incorrectly, not pointing at the Earth. Not so. I have purposely painted it a little lower and to the right of the Earth due to the effect of parallax.

How small our Earth is in the infinite universe. Someday, when future explorers look back from Mars, our precious home will be but a dim star. Our planet may be small but we are fortunate indeed. Consider the fact that with all the millions of telescopes humans have created and used, and all the hundreds of space probes we've rocketed out into the universe, Earth is still the most beautiful world we have ever seen. How lucky we are!