Categories
Crossing Cultures Devotional Memoir

Night sky

Night sky. Stars lost in the city’s loud light.

Raised in a large urban center, I look back on my childhood. And remember something different.

Limited electricity. Unpredictable outages. 

Frequent darkness in the evenings.  

And stars.

Night sky. Image by Alexander Andrews on Unsplash.

We could see

Kerosene lanterns cast a dim glow in our house those nights. 

No electric fans to stir the air. Humid air. 

So we put on mosquito repellent. Pulled an old quilt outside onto the grass. And lay down.

Looking up, we could see.

A myriad of stars standing out against inky black. 

Night sky

On those night sky viewings, we felt the vastness of the universe from our small square in the back yard.

We looked for various constellations.

Pointing out Orion’s belt. Big Dipper. Little Dipper. Southern Cross.

Crickets provided a soundtrack.

“Star light, star bright. First star I see tonight…”

Songs. Stories. Laughter. And quiet.

Unpredictable

Over the years, in various places I encounter the unpredictable. Inconveniences, in my mind.

Lengthy power outages. Or no water in the pipes.

Interrupting the pace. Cutting short schedules.

Throwing a wrench, so to speak, in my carefully laid plans.

Frustration ensues. It’s easy to focus on the situation I can’t change.

Look up

When our children were young and started whining about something, I’d say, “Don’t be a whiner. Be a designer.” 

Because I needed to hear those words too. 

Still do.

Instead of stewing and complaining? It’s time to look up and get creative. 

Designer

Those evenings in my childhood, spent under a brilliant night sky, didn’t just get us out of a stuffy house.

They turned us from discomfort. To something greater than ourselves. 

Changing our focus from the temporary to the eternal. Turning our eyes to the One who set the stars in place. 

Designer of the night sky. 

Designing us. 

All the stars

“The heavens were made by the word of the Lord,
and all the stars, by the breath of his mouth….

Let the whole earth fear the Lord;
let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him….

We wait for the Lord;
he is our help and shield.
For our hearts rejoice in him
because we trust in his holy name.”

Psalm 33:6, 8, 20-21 CSB

What about you?

What helps you move from whining or complaining? How has the Lord helped you see the big picture?

Related posts

Healing hurts and counting starsMy motherKeeping a sense of humorTurn your eyesFeeling sand between my toesPower outages

Psalm 33 Psalm 8Isaiah 40:25-31

12 replies on “Night sky”

My favorite way to move away from my complaining is to ask someone else what they see God doing. Or to admire the beauty of nature and marvel at God’s constant creativity!

Thank you, Susan, for this great read! It provides me with much food for thought!

Susan, I don’t know if the night sky you saw when the kerosene lamps were out were in Jakarta or elsewhere, but the poetic meditation is lovely, and I hope they were written on what was a blessed Mother’s Day for you.

Beautiful thoughts! Thanks for sharing that. Thank you for the comments about moving from a complainer to a designer. To focus on God and ask how He can use situations to His glory..from complaining to designing.

I would love to hear from you!

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.