I had to check the date as I typed this. Days roll over into days here. I seem to always know the day of the week, but often not the date. For right now, my life seems to revolve around what routine I can find verses dates to schedule my life by like it used to back home. It is the 8th of April today in case anyone was wondering.
Tonight I happened to be outside on the road outside our house in the moonlight. While I am often annoyed at the road because of the sounds of the factory just doors down, the squeaky rusted gate, or the diesel trucks on the gravel road, I appreciate that there is total darkness at night. I looked up tonight and saw the moon and the stars shining so brightly. It overwhelmed me with a deep sense of peace and tranquility. In the stillness, I felt the light from these far away objects brought a nostalgia I needed to feel.
Two and a half years ago, Stephen returned home from Thanksgiving break. I’d had a really difficult week while we were separated from personal issues and had been a strength to some family members. When I picked him up from the airport, I realized how fragile I was and began to cry. Once I brought him to his parent’s house, he opened his laptop and began to play a song for me. I wept and wept and felt God just heal my aching heart. Stephen ever so sweetly wrapped his left arm around my shoulder and just sat next to me as the song repeated.
Here are some lyrics below;
You should see the stars tonight
How they shimmer shine so bright
Against the black they look so white
Comin down from such a height
To reach me now
And how could such a thing
Shine its light on me
And make everything beautiful again
I remember being in bible school and reading Genesis 1. I can recall about to turn the page to see the remaining part of that chapter when verse 16 jumped out at me. “…He made the stars also”. I was struck by how BIG God was and how in all of His beautiful creations of calling forth light that He stopped and added some stars. Stars to reflect His light in a dark sky. Stars to shimmer and shine so bright as the lyrics to the song above state. Stars to remind us that even in the darkest times, it’ll be alright. Stars to shine down on us and remind us that our light is important and needed in the world we live in today.
We asked three young people to sing at our wedding whom Stephen and known since they were young and loved dearly. My parent’s had a beautiful song called, “There is Love” sung at their wedding and I’d always dreamed of using it at mine. I also wanted to incorporate “Stars”, the song above by David Crowder in there too. These talented friends much to my surprise combined these two songs for our communion song. As they sang we also lit two lanterns asking God to make us “burning and shining lamps” in our generation like the scripture says John the Baptist was. This is still my prayer today. The link below is a recording of the song at our wedding.