Where Stars and Thoughts are Born

Tonight I had one of those rare moments of delight in...winter.  Besides the beauty of snow falling (although there are a million things I don't appreciate about snow), there is not much I appreciate about winter.  I used to like it, but I guess after enough years, I got tired of being cold.  Thankfully, three out of four seasons in Georgia are reasonably warm (sometimes unreasonably) so I can't complain (especially since much of my time in the last few years has been spent on a tropical island).  But perhaps that is why finding something delightful about winter is even more awesome--because it is so rare.

A star-cloud, where stars are supposedly born.

However, it also shouldn't be too surprising that my delightful winter moment happened when I was nice and warm--sitting in my Grandma's hot tub.  Winter was made for hot tubs...ok, maybe the other way around.  But the point is, the hot tub was my portal through which I could experience what I often miss because I'm in such a rush to get to somewhere warm.  I looked up and saw the cold, clear sky, and those old friends I haven't seen for awhile, called "stars."  As I smiled at the stars, dozens of thoughts blossomed in my mind.  Here are a few, though I will warn you, I think my mind is strange sometimes:
- I once read the night sky described as "shimmering diamonds on a velvet sky" and I think it's the best word-picture ever.
- I once heard about "clouds" in galaxies where stars are born.  That sounds pretty cool, but I like to imagine God breathing out stars.  With a big sigh, maybe one of those clouds is born, and drifts off to a galaxy to populate it with more stars.
- I saw a plane flying and it looked like it passed right in front of one of the stars, and it made me imagine playing connect the dots with stars and an airplane.
- Orion is the only constellation I can recognize (besides the Big Dipper, which technically is part of something else), but it's like my warrior friend in the sky. I really like it because it reminds me of God watching over me wherever I am in the world.
- I saw a shooting star!  I love it when that happens!

But my favorite thought was this: I can see the stars so much better in the winter, because there is little humidity, and because the leaves are off the trees (since there are few ever-greens around these parts).  Normally, I hate the fact that trees lose their leaves in the winter.  Everything is brown and gray--and my favorite color is green.  But it struck me as a lesson in humility.  In losing what makes a tree beautiful, it opens the view for us to see more beauty in the sky.  We need more sunlight to warm the earth on winter days, and we find comfort in the sparkling stars and moonlight in the winter nights (or if you're lost in the winter wilderness and you know how to navigate by the stars, it's good for that too).  And so the tree rests in winter-humility, letting other parts of nature stand out a little more for awhile, waiting it's turn to take back the spotlight in the Spring.

I want to be humble like a winter tree.  I want to remember to look for the beauty and blessings in the cold darkness.  I want to thank God for the ordinary moments He transforms into extraordinary ones which speak to my heart of His personal love for me.

"By the word of the LORD were the heavens made, their starry host by the breath of his mouth."  Ps. 33:6 (NIV)