Love in the Stars

I've never paid much attention to the sky. By that I mean, I've never taken a real interest in astronomy.   I can find the Big Dipper (most of the time), and I make note of the moon if it is looking particularly fetching, but that is about the extent of my celestial knowledge. But one morning last October, I walked outside to leave for the day, and I happened to look up.  Now, I leave my house really early most mornings and in October, I leave well before sunrise. So, it was still dark out on this particular morning. I could see the crescent moon, and right above it was the brightest thing I have ever seen in the sky besides the sun and moon. I couldn't take my eyes off of it, like it was drawing me into its luminosity.  I started to speculate what it may be. It was not an aircraft, that I was fairly certain. I highly doubted it was a star because of its sheer magnitude. Alien spaceship, perhaps. I snapped a picture with my phone and went off to work. 

Now, let's backtrack a little bit. A few hours before this siting in the heavens had been hell on earth, one of the darkest nights that I had endured to date. There's no need to drudge up the grimy details, but it was rough. Much ugly crying ensued, followed by the paralyzing feeling of having no control of my life. Rejection was palpable, the kind that comes when one attaches all of their self-worth to another human, and that human decides to go cliff diving without harnessing the other in. They are out for the thrill and danger, and you just get splattered on a rock. Like I said, it was very dark. A wise friend advised me to just give it to God, and go to sleep. I did the best I could and managed to get a few good hours of much needed rest. 

A few hours into my day, I kept thinking about the bright light in the sky that morning. I had a few minutes, so I googled it. What I learned was pretty amazing as I read that the brightest object in the east before sunrise that morning had been the planet Venus. It had been very, very prominent. The article did, in fact, declare it to be the third brightest object in the sky, only following the sun and moon. What immediately struck me was the name Venus. I knew that it meant love. I wanted to make sure I had that right, so I looked it up, and sure enough, it did. The Romans followed Greek tradition, and Venus was their version of Aphrodite, the goddess of love. 

You see, although this was all very historically and scientifically interesting, I knew what this meant to me. Because I know the God that put the stars in the sky, I knew, without question, that he was making his love visible to me. I was immediately star struck that the Creator of the universe cared for me enough to manifest his affection in such a tangible way. It's like he knew that my emotions were completely divested, so he chose my eyes as the passage to receive it. It was as if he was saying, " I know words don't mean much right now, so let me just show you."  Then he wrote his love for me in the stars! 

 Maybe you think I'm reading way too much into this. Like, really Andrea, Venus would have been there that morning whether you were looking or not. And to you, I would say you are precisely right. Any other morning, I probably would not have even noticed. But brokenness has a way of making you keenly aware, like open nerve endings picking up every sensation.   I was in a deficit for love, and as I read about Venus, Love wrapped me up like a warm blanket in the middle of the coldest winter. It was relief. It was restorative.  I still get teary even as I type because I finally got it. "His faithful love endures forever."  This truth took hold of my heart on this cold, October morning.  Love is there all of the time: when we look for it and when we don't.  Sometimes being in the wilderness makes it easier to see the stars. So,  if you do decide to look up, I'm just going to warn you that it will surpass all of your expectations. The brightness of his love will strike in deep places. This kind of love is not mundane or earthly, it's holy and divine and even a little extraterrestrial! 

Go star gazing!
A. 

P.S, There is a song called "Pieces" by Amanda Cook. It's a beautiful, modern, moving love song  about God. Check it out. 

P. P.S. In case you were wondering: I'm still working on Wild Child Part 2. I've had some new developments that I'm really excited about, but it's coming. 

Psalms 136
Give thanks to the lord, for he is good!
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of gods.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to the Lord of lords.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who alone does mighty miracles.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who made the heavens so skillfully.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who placed the earth among the waters.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who made the heavenly lights--
His faithful love endures forever.
the sun to rule the day,
His faithful love endures forever.
and the moon and stars to rule the night.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who killed the firstborn of Egypt.
His faithful love endures forever.
He brought Israel out of Egypt.
His faithful love endures forever.
He acted with a strong hand and powerful arm.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who parted the Red Sea.
His faithful love endures forever.
He led Israel safely through,
His faithful love endures forever.
but he hurled Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who led his people through the wilderness.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to him who struck down mighty kings.
His faithful love endures forever.
He killed powerful kings--
His faithful love endures forever.
Sihon king of the Amorites,
His faithful love endures forever.
and Og king of Bashan.
His faithful love endures forever.
God gave the land of these kings as an inheritance--
His faithful love endures forever.
a special possession to his servant Israel.
His faithful love endures forever.
He remembered us in our weakness.
His faithful love endures forever.
He saved us from our enemies.
His faithful love endures forever.
He gives food to every living thing.
His faithful love endures forever.
Give thanks to the God of heaven.
His faithful love endures forever.