The Stars Make Sense

Have you ever looked up into the night sky and seen stars? I'm not a true star-gazer. I usually happen to look up because I am thinking or perhaps just to take a moment. I can make out the North Star, the Big Dipper and the Little Dipper. I can usually pick out Venus (that is the one right next to the moon?) and, of course, the moon. And if I'm lucky, I can catch a shooting star or a meteor shower.

How amazing, the night sky. But have you ever looked up and seen no stars? Not because of cloud cover, but just because there was too much light?
Living in a city, I know that the further out of town I go, the more stars I am able to see. That is only because there is less and less artificial light to interfere with the celestial light. And when I am up in the mountains, the darkness really brings out the brightness of the stars.
But there was one night that puts all others to shame. I have not seen another night like it before or since.

I was in Tuba City Arizona three years ago for a short term mission trip. Tuba City is on the Navaho Indian Reservation. That is smack-dab in the middle of nowhere.
On one of the last nights in Tuba City, there was a city-wide power outage. No light for 50 miles. Now it was late, and the only reason I actually came out of the bunk-house was because the air conditioner went off. As I stepped out the front door onto the sidewalk, I was confronted with a truly awesome sight.

Stars. Not just stars, but millions upon millions of stars. And galaxies. And I don't even know what else I could see there, but it was magnificent.
And I wasn't the only one standing in the desert night air with my head hanging back and my mouth hanging open. There we stood, for how long I don't know. But when the power came back on, and there were lights again, the galaxies dissappeard. The millions upon million of stars just became the few that I am used to seeing. The North Star, the Big Dipper, the Little Dipper.

Now, they really didn't dissappear. They are still there. The difference, I am realizing, is the light. When there is light from sources other than the heavens, it diminishes my view. But when my only light is from the heavens, then I can see all that the heavens have to offer.

My pondering question. Do I do that in my spiritual life, my Christian walk?
Do I allow other artificial "lights" to interfere and cloud my vision of what spiritual things are going on around me?

I know that there have been occasions where I have extinguished all other "lights" in my life and allowed the Light of God to be my only source.

Wow, what a difference. What an awesome, and sometimes scary gift, this Light of God. It is truly amazing what I can see when I use God's light instead of my own.

Yet, the things that I see with God's light? They are always there. They have always been there. Whether I use my light or God's light doesn't change that. What changes is my ability to see, and my appreciation of what is there. I think I will choose to practice using God's light instead of my own. My light doesn't shine near as bright as God's.

What an incredible gift, to see with the Light of God.