“When it is dark enough, you can see the stars.”

— Charles Austin Beard

I just love September.  At this time of year, the days grow short enough that I set out on my morning walk just before the sun rises.  I love the spaces in between black and white, hot and cold, night and day.  The moon was new on August 29; and unlike the time of full moon, the sky was black and silent.  I walked outside yesterday into that velvet silence, feeling the dew splash up onto my ankles but unable to see it sparkle in the pre-dawn darkness.  I stood completely still and closed my eyes for a moment, turning my face toward the invisible sky and feeling the loveliness of the stark, quiet morning.  My face still turned upward, I opened my eyes; and they began to appear, one at a time.  Stars!  Stars!  Everywhere I looked I saw another one.

Where it seemed there had been nothing but blackness, suddenly I noticed a thousand pinholes of light shining through the veil of night.  They danced and sparkled and called my eyes to dance, too, as I tried to take in every one.  I looked back down to the dewy grass and noticed that here and there a tiny drop mirrored an equally tiny star that shone above.  The whole earth seemed to sparkle where only a few minutes earlier it had seemed to lie in utter darkness.

When our lives feel darkest, it is only natural to long for the shining light of the full moon.  It is so cut and dried — so dark and light, so night and day.  We sometimes forget to close our eyes for a moment and embrace the darkness so that when we open them again, we can take in the tiny points of light that sparkle all around us and bring us hope.  A caring friend, a healing word, an uplifting thought, a comforting memory — all of these hover around us in every minute, just waiting to have their twinkling presence recognized.  It is all of these that combine to shed light on our souls and illuminate our path at the most difficult times; but only when it is dark enough are we able to see the stars.