Sleeping Under the Stars

One of the most remarkable memories of my life was sleeping under the stars in the Masaii Mara in Kenya while I was on safari.  I'd been in Kenya three months by then and my time was coming to a close.  I was beyond homesick and consoled myself with the thought that in not many more weeks, I'd finally be sleeping under the same stars as those I love.  And it was a comfort, because at the beginning of my trip, I would look at the stars and think of my friends and family.  I would think of them when I saw the stars because I told myself that when it finally became night where they were, they'd be sleeping under the same stars.  Only I realized they weren't.  I had gone so far from home that I was sleeping under a whole new set of stars.  That's a long way to go...

I've always loved stars because they've allowed me to dream--to look up into a starry sky is to know that you are but a speck in an infinite universe. To see the stars has always been for me a representation of God-- huge, and un-quantifyable.  And the stars have always reminded me to hope because I've always thought of them as tiny lightbulbs in a very black sky.  Besides that, there's a lot to be said that you have to be in the dark to be graced with the opportunity to see them.  There's something theological about that I think.

When I moved here almost four years ago, I started on my second quilt.  I designed the pattern and I collected blue fabric wherever I went.  And tonight, I will snuggle next to my love, listening to snoring dogs beside us, and we will sleep under the stars.  And I will dream, and imagine, and hope--beautifully, largely, gently.

It's just a quilt.  It's just pieces of fabric.  But it's more than that. It's a travel diary.  It's home. It's love. It's a thin place where the earth and heaven get all tangled up.  A place where God whispers, "You can't count them all.  But there is not a single one that's there without my knowledge."

Me thinks I will sleep well tonight, my loves and me, under these stars.