The Stars At Lunchtime

The summer evenings here have been so fresh and soothing lately. The soft, gauzy light; the cool air; and setting sun have a way of fading out the stresses and cares that I'm so easily tangled up in. But what I love possibly even more than these balmy July evenings are the stars at night. There have been times when I've gone camping, woken up in the night (or simply stayed up), and it looks like someone shot fireworks all over the sky and froze them in place just as they began to fade away. I love the stars. They truly fill me with awe and wonder.

One night not too long ago, the girls and I decided to sleep outside on the back lawn. My friend Carmen and I laid out our bedding next to each other and once we had gotten settled, watched the sky create a masterpiece above our heads. As the darkness tiptoed into the valley and began to paint the surrounding mountains in silhouettes, the stars began to faintly glimmer. Nervous and shy to expose themselves at first, Carmen and I could have counted them on our fingers. But as the azure twilight slowly deepened to inky blackness, the stars seemed to multiply. It was as if Someone was gently and continuously sprinkling glitter throughout the sky, creating an ever growing canopy of sparkles to sleep under. As I drank in the beauty, breezes from the valley brushing my face, it struck me that these myriads of stars are there all the time. I just can't see them. During the day they're hidden beneath a golden blanket of sunshine.

But they're still there.

The stars aren't unlike the promises in the Bible. When life is giving you those sunshiny days filled with lemonade and water fights, we tend to let the Word of God collect dust. But, to continue with the analogy, darkness can often creep into life and leave us lonely and hurting, and when it does, the countless promises of God shine in their brilliance, filling us with peace and giving us something to cling to.

There are so many objects lessons we can gain from the stars, a person could probably write a small book on them. But there's one that especially stuck out to me that night on the lawn. Many times we don't feel like God is there or we can't sense His love for us. It can seem about as visible as the stars at lunch time. But, just like the stars, He is still there, even if we can't see Him. Nothing moves those burning, luminous lights out of their tracks. And nothing can move God, who is burning with love for us, from His position of persevering watchfulness and intense interest in our lives. He's not always very visible. He could be hidden beneath a layer of crippling, guilt-ridden thoughts; our own wishy-washy emotions; or a suffocating blanket of burdens.

*Photo is from the internet.

But He's still there, whether we see Him or not. Whether we understand Him or not. Whether we feel Him or not. He's still there for you today.