When I Look At the Stars…

A few years ago, I had this big idea that we should buy a telescope.  It would be a wonderful family Christmas present, I reasoned.  I imagined the children “ooohing and aahhing” as they peered through the lens at the wonders of the universe.

Unfortunately, I forgot to take into consideration just how difficult it is to spot a star here.  The first night we braved the cold to set up our new telescope and gaze into “infinity and beyond!” only a few dim specks of light floated in the winter sky.  We found the moon pretty easily, and it was gorgeous, but one can only stare at the moon through a telescope lens for so long. 

We decided to take the telescope and kids on a field trip.  (My poor sister, bless her heart, was along) We loaded everyone into the van and drove out the Natchez Trace into the middle of what to us felt like nowhere, parked on the side of the road and attempted to capture a bit of the wonder of the universe for our crew.  We stood out there in the freezing cold for an hour or more while creepy things crawled through the underbrush and the thing we discovered is that it does not take young children long to become bored on the side of a road in the dark of night. 

With very little magic of the night sky discovered, we threw in the towel and drug our muddy children and (in our eyes a complete waste of money) telescope home.  We cleaned up the kids and put them in bed and then we shoved the telescope back under my husband’s clothes in our closet and there it has remained until this day.  I have rarely even thought about it until recently.  As we began the process of moving, we decided that perhaps we could sell it to someone who lived where there were more stars, or someone who had more skill, or someone who was as gullible as we were….

I thought about that telescope again several times over the last couple of nights because for some reason the stars have been glorious here.  This morning when I took the dog out, it was still dark and the sky was strewn with them.  I looked up and easily found the Big Dipper, Little Dipper, Milky Way and North star.  I stood there shivering in the first cool weather of the season, waiting for Puzzle the Puppy and just basking in the peace of the blanket of eternity spread over head.

Beautiful.

Finally, Puzzle was ready to go inside but I cast one last glance at the Morning Star (Venus) and remembered that in Revelation 22:16 Jesus calls himself the “bright Morning Star”.  The most glorious, brightest spot in the celestial sky.  Light for our path.  The hope that the night is soon over….

I needed to be reminded of that this morning.  I needed to remember that God is not only eternal but eternally faithful, that he cares to light my way.  I needed to set my heart at peace in his infinite presence.

God is speaking today.  Are you listening?

“The heavens declare the glory of God;
       the skies proclaim the work of his hands.”

Psalm 19:1