Why We Can't See Stars

(This is yesterday's blog post. I don't know why it wasn't published yesterday. I thought the computer said it was.)

I just saw an inspirational quote that says "Stars can't shine without darkness," but I think I'd rephrase that. The stars are always shining. It's just that we can't see them if there's too much other light around us (or maybe it has something to do with whatever sunlight does to the sky to make it blue. I don't know anything about light or astronomy). Anyway, my point is that the stars are always shining - it's just that we can't always see them, just like God is always there, but we don't always see that He's there, and I can think of at least two reasons for that.

First, I'd like to give a little bit of credibility back to the quote I just argued against. "Stars can't shine without darkness." God is always there for us, but we don't always turn to Him. Sometimes, we foolishly think that we're doing well enough on our own, or that God wouldn't bother to help us. It's when things get really bad in our lives, our darkest moments, if you will, that we turn to God for help, and discover that He's been there with us all long. We just couldn't see Him because we weren't looking for Him, and sometimes things have to get really bad before we start looking.

Another reason we can't see stars all the time is that there's usually too much light around us. Look at the night sky when you're in the city, then look at the night sky when you're out in nature, and you'll see what I mean. Sometimes, there are just too many mortal distractions keeping us from focussing on God. There's too much hustle and bustle, keeping us too busy to think about eternal things. If we can cut out some of those distractions from our lives, or find a quiet moment to meditate and pray, we can look up to the heavens and see the subtle light.

Hopefully, it won't take an hour of darkness to drive us to our knees. Hopefully, we can be the kind of people who try to attune ourselves to God's light anyway, whether times are good or bad. Let us try to find God, even when it seems that we don't need Him, because we always need Him, and it's better to remember that now than it is to wait for God to remind us.