Have you ever just taken a moment to look up at night? I do it, all the time, and my son is beginning to pick up that behavior as well. A few months ago, the night sky was pretty clear;  he looked up and he was amazed at how big and close the moon was. He went on and on and on in sheer amazement. He just couldn’t believe that something so small and so far away could be so bright.

The other night, he brought it up again; this time though, he asked what makes a star, how do stars actually appear and why it’s easier to see them sometimes but not all the time. My response to him: “well son, you have the question, you have to find the answer.  He found this: “All stars are the result of a balance of forces: the force of gravity compresses atoms in interstellar gas until the fusion reactions begin.” Of course he wasn’t very clear what this meant so I mommied it down for him. For a star to be born, there is one thing that has to happen, the air has to change, and a gaseous nebula (cloud of gas) has to break apart, if it doesn’t break apart, the star cannot be born. I went on to explain that sometimes the skies are so cloudy and the clouds are so thick that the light, no matter how bright can’t get through. He laid down, said his prayers, thanked God for the internet and helping him find answers to his questions and then went to sleep.

I didn’t sleep though. I thought, and I thought, and I went in to some deep thought and self reflection. How do you feel when you have real self talk? If you’re truly being honest with yourself, it doesn’t always feel good. I know there are times when I can do nothing but shake my head at myself, especially when I realize that whatever the decision was really wasn’t worth the result (which is usually something falling apart, and more likely than not it’s me that’s doing the crumbling).

This talk about the star though, has changed my perspective of the not so hot things…the times when the sky is too cloudy to see the stars. My nine year old’s intrigue lead me right to a lesson for myself. In this lesson from the night’s sky, I realized that things are sometimes terrible; so terrible that I can’t find anything bright to give me hope, like the cloudy night when the stars can’t be seen, but my faith tells me that trouble doesn’t last always. Yes, it may be terrible in that moment, but the moment will pass and the sky will clear, and the stars will soon be visible again.

These words are important here: shift, collapse, and birth

In order for the wonder of a star to BE (exist) there must be a SHIFT (change)  in the atmospheric pressure that causes a COLLAPSE (breaking down of) that allows for the BIRTH of the star! There must be a transformation of the physical properties of the gasses that make the “parent star” (the gas cloud prior to the shift).

The next time you find yourself falling apart, or it seems like everything around you is crumbling, remember how a star is born! Remember that the star shines brightest after the collapse.

Let go. Collapse. Crumble. This is neither your undoing, nor your destruction, it is your birth!!

✌🏾 and much 💕

Xandi