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Stars share the secret to life. As I understand it, there are basically two stages in the life of a star. The first stage is when a star is born. As gravity begins to pull gases toward a center core, the temperature begins to rise, and eventually, the density of the gases causes a nuclear reaction. It’s then that the star begins to shine, drawing energy toward the light, to its core, then radiating that light back into the galaxy.
This can go on for billions of years until the second stage, when the star’s center can no longer hold. Because the star has too little fuel left to maintain its core temperature, its light goes out. It collapses under its own weight, drawing everything around it into a dark abyss.
Tell me that doesn’t sound familiar. What do you have at the center of your life? Is it strong enough to hold you through the good times and the bad?
Remember the creator of those stars – the ultimate center that can hold. Through the Creator, our true center, you, too, can hold strong in the hardest times, radiating light and warmth to all creation.
This message is excerpted from “Our starry secret” by Susan Sparks in the July/August 2023 Gather magazine. Today we commemorate Birgitta of Sweden, renewer of the church, 1373.