Quarter!

Personal Photo: Taken by Katrina Rumsey in Eastern Tennessee on May 28, 2022

When I was growing up, my family always played a game during the summertime (anytime we were outside, really) and the whole concept of the game was to spot the first star that came out. We spent most of the summertime outside and almost every night we would play the game. When dusk came, we would all start peeking up at the sky to find the first twinkle. When you found the first one, you said "Quarter!" and even though we never handed out real money for the little game, it was the symbolism of finding the first star being the highest value. The game continued and the second star was the dime, the third star was the nickel, the fourth the penny, and then we had to wait until the next night before we got another shot at snagging up the first star of the night.

The concept of stars has always been a magical one, hasn't it? They make us feel small, they remind us that there is so much vastness out there that we can remove ourselves from all the things we sink ourselves in every day to enjoy the quiet, the darkness, and the shimmering of all the speckles above us. It is beautiful and hard to wrap our minds around, making it even more intriguing. Being outside so much as a child, and still loving the outdoors, helped me really pay attention to the stars. I loved how pretty they were and how far away it all was from me. I loved finding the first star and by playing the game, it encouraged me to take notice of how many there were, how once one came out, they all seemed to pop out, and how they had no bounds, for there was a star in every single speck of the sky that I could see.

When I was in college, I took some astronomy classes; I had always wanted to read the stars, recognize the constellations, and understand more about their size, lifespan, and anything else I could soak up about them. Even though astronomy did not end up being my strongest subject (there is a lot of math!), one fun fact stuck with me. We had talked about the distance between star to star, between planet to planet, and between galaxy to galaxy. When we looked at the scales of distance, I learned that stars are actually the loneliest, with the largest ratio from one star to another. It stuck with me because it seemed so hard to believe. When we look at the sky, we can see so many stars that look like they are stacked right on top of each other. They don't look like they are lonely, they don't look like they are by themselves or far away from another star. The light they all produce together brightens the entire sky, so how can they really be that removed from the next one? No wonder it stuck with me.

This past weekend, my brother, Jason, and his new wife, Katrina, (they just got married!!) came to visit Clay, me, and my parents while we were in Tennessee for Clay's birthday. We spent the evening outside and the stars began popping out, one by one. The stars in Tennessee are breathtaking and Katrina was taking photos of the night sky. I included one of her beautiful photos as the cover for this blog article! I remembered my fun fact from college and told Katrina about it. When I did, it got me thinking about how it would be perfect to share it with you all and how it really changed my perspective on stars. Stars are incredibly useful, they are beautiful, but to think of them as lonely gave me an opportunity to consider us as Christians in the same way.

Have you felt lonely before? How many times have we felt lonely when we are with other people, when we are soaked in work, when we should be enjoying some quiet time? Personally, I feel guilty when I feel lonely, like it really isn't justified. I'll give you an example. I lived by myself in college and I loved it, but I often found myself stuck in my same routine. Clay would sometimes come to visit me and while I treasured the time he was there, I found that once it was over and he was gone, I was terribly lonely. I would unload the dishwasher and when I saw that there were two plates to put away instead of one, I was so glad that I hadn't imagined our time together. The simple awareness of two plates confirmed that not only did I have the pleasure of Clay spending a meal with me, but it was a reminder that I was only going to need one for the next meal. I felt guilty. I should have been focusing on how nice it was that he visited, but it also magnified the loneliness after he was gone.

Have you ever felt the same way? I think that as Christians we often feel this way. We can feel like we are by ourselves, in a strange and sad world, and we do not know who to trust, who believes the same was as us, etc. We do our best every day to shine God's love onto this world, but we still find ourselves burning out, lost in a world that does not accept us. We feel guilty for it sometimes, for we have so many blessings, so many people who care about us and who we care about, and while this is all true, the loneliness is not only relatable, but understandable. We often fail to see the big picture, so we might feel lonely, but there is a great plan in motion and we each play a very important part in it. This is why the concept of stars really got me thinking. Maybe there is a little bit of a star in us all.

This world is filled with darkness. It can be so difficult to walk each step knowing it is the right step to take. Darkness can easily overcome people, and the emotions we experience can challenge us to keep our heads above water. Consider grief, sadness, anger, bitterness, hurt, and so many more feelings that consume us when we are feeling them. It is like the darkness is closing in. How do we keep our flames lit when this happens? How do we keep giving glory to God when we are swamped by the evils of sin and this world daily? It is a hard question to answer, but the only source of our flame is Jesus Christ. If we rely on our own ability, we will fail, so in order to keep from burning out, Jesus must be the one who continues to breathe life into us. He is the only one who can guide us through this world with never-ending strength and wisdom. He harbors His light in us for many reasons, and one of them is so we can help fight that darkness that we are all so familiar with. Just like the stars that marvel above us, the amount of darkness we see does not overpower the amount of stars we see. When we look at the sky, we do not focus on the dark, but instead we focus on the beacons of twinkling light that overwhelm the night. They almost dance with the way they shimmer. We should do the same here. Yes, the darkness exists. Yes, it can get frustrating and disappointing when we feel lonely in this world, but we can focus on the light. We can focus not only on the light we see in the world, like God-loving and fearing people, the ways in which the Lord touches everything we experience, and the blessings that the Lord showers over us, but also we can focus on the light we have inside of us. The light in our souls, lit up by the saving grace of Jesus, can inspire and restore us each day. We can feed our spiritual side. We can go to church, praise the Lord for our blessings and our lessons, talk to others about God, pray, and so much more. By feeding the light inside of our souls, we can burn brighter and stronger, allowing us to hopefully be a light for others in this world. This can help us with our loneliness, it can help us focus on the light instead of the dark.

Along this vein, I want to talk about how our loneliness, while relatable, does not mean there are no other stars out there, not only feeling the same way, but burning brightly as a light for God also. How often do we, as humans, use stars as a light to guide us? The cultures throughout the Pacific navigated the oceans via the star patterns, they found new islands and created new homes by relying on the stars to show them which way to go. The wise men used the star above Bethlehem to guide them to Jesus. Stars were put into constellations in order to track the patterns of the sun and the moon and the planets, which helped us form calendars, know when to plant crops, and so much more. Stars have forever been the symbolism of guidance. The stars, while the loneliest of all the things in the universe, come together to form patterns, constellations, and points of direction for us. We work the same way. Daniel 12:3 reads "And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above; and those who turn many to righteousness, like the stars forever and ever." Every single one of us, regardless of where we are in our journey to Christ, have the ability to guide people to God. Every single star serves a purpose, as it is part of a large, vast, thought-out plan. We might feel alone sometimes, and we might not always see the other stars around us, but this does not mean our flame is not important. It does not mean that the other stars do not exist. It does not mean we should stop burning our light. Instead, the loneliness can encourage us to trust in the Lord to keep our flames alive in order to guide people to Him. There are so many people out there just like us that we can encourage by burning our light. And when we do see the light of another star, we can feed off of it, trust that we are working with them for a greater purpose, and use it to encourage ourselves or encourage them. 1 Corinthians 15:41 says that "The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor." Each of us is important. We each have our own gifts, our own ways of shining light.

We might feel alone sometimes, but we are not. We are never alone. The Lord reminds us by saying in Isaiah 40:26 to "Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls forth each of them by name. Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing." This is a reminder to us that He knows us, and we are doing His work. He is with us, calling us by our name, and loving us through each step. Our light is not for nothing, but instead it is part of the Lord's plan in helping this world. We are part of His team and we can abandon our loneliness and focus on the ways in which we can feed our light and help guide people towards God's eternal flame.