Stars

 

     In West Texas on a clear summer night, there's a marvelous display of twinkling lights. In the country they appear to be more spectacular.  At a very young age, on one of those wonderful cool nights, my best friend Dottie, my brother Sharol, and I got to sleep outside in my grandparent's backyard.  Instead of going right to sleep, we did our best to count as many stars as we could. 

     Before long we got bored.  So, in the dark we headed to grandad's old, black, ford pick-up.  Dottie got in the front seat and pretended she was driving to church.  Sharol and I jumped into the bed of the truck and stood behind the cab. In unison and very loud, the three of us began to sing hymns. In the middle of Amazing Grace, we heard a strange voice louder than ours.  We stopped singing and looked toward the house.  Grandmother stood on the front porch frantically waving her hands in the air.  She yelled, "It's after one in the morning.  You kids get back to bed."  From the tone of her voice, we knew she meant business.   Without hesitating we ran to the blanket we had spread on the lush green grass and went to sleep.    

Stars

In the beginning God gave the world two great lights.

One was to light the day, the other the night.

As a special touch, he added millions of twinkling stars.

They stretched across the sky and surround planets like Mars.

Such beauty could only have been done by a Higher Power.

It's His gift to us just like the flower.

              Patricia Westbrook

"And God made two great lights: the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night.  He made the stars also." (Genesis 1:16, NKJ).