A Tale of Two Stars

Every night (and before most naps), my children request a bedtime story. I push my imagination into the corners of my mind where it used to flow naturally but now needs to stretch and wiggle a bit to fit. I come up with all sorts of wild tales about ents, astronauts, fairies, knights, ninjas, and talking animals. Every night it's different. Sometimes I have a plan but most often I begin my stories before I have a truly clear idea of where they are going. They're always entertaining for my children, and sometimes entertaining for me, as I inevitably laugh at how in the world I got to this place and how am I ever going to end this thing!

One night this week it was an Epiphany story, and as the last day of Christmas approaches this week and we turn our eyes to the light of Christ, I thought I'd share it with you.
Enjoy, and happy Epiphany!

A TALE OF TWO STARS

Two Stars, TL 1/3/16

Once upon a time, before there was time, there was darkness. 

God did not want the darkness, and so he spoke, and light appeared.

It made him glad, but he wanted to make the light special. 

To give it form. 

So a few days later, he shaped the light into suns, moons, and most beautifully, stars. They sprinkled the darkness with glittering diamonds, and God was very pleased. The stars were one of God's special creatures, and they worked for Him gladly.

Well, most of them did.

One day, one of the most beautiful of all the stars had a thought. It was an evil and wicked thought. He decided that because God had made him the loveliest of stars, that he should get to reign above all the other stars. 

That he should get to be like God. 

That perhaps he should be God. 

It was a selfish and prideful thought, but he let it fester and grow in his heart, and as all sinful thoughts do, it cast a dark shadow on that beautiful star of light. The shadow grew, and before long, he decided that he did not like to be a star of light. He did not like the light at all. 

He fell from the sky and God's goodness, and landed in God's world.

He had a plan. A wicked plan. 

A plan to defeat God and become God. 

Because he was made of light, he could bend that light and appear in any form he chose, and so he chose the form of a beautiful and majestic dragon. He walked the earth in search of God's greatest joy, and found her in a garden. He convinced that joy of God to reject her glory and follow him. He convinced her that it is greater to become like God than to have fellowship with Him. 

And she ate God's judgement. 

The dragon-star watched with glee as her husband followed her, and he taunted God with his victory.

That star brought a curse, and the darkness filled the earth.

But God had a plan. A glorious plan. 

A plan to defeat the darkness.

Because he was God, he did not need to bend light to appear in a different form. All he had to do was speak, and God became a baby growing in a mother's womb. He knew that to save his world from the darkness, he would have to send light to it. He knew that in the world He created one had to become small to become great. 

To tell the world of his plan, he chose a star. A wondrous star. This star with royal beauty bright was placed high in the heavens, and God caused the star to shine so fiercely that all men saw it, even those who lived afar off in distant countries. 

It pointed to the little town where the little God-baby came. 

And people came to see this plan of God's. 

That star watched as the God-baby grew into a God-man and died, 

charging straight at the shadows to slay them. 

He watched as the God-man filled his tomb with so much light that the heavy stone could not contain it, and rolled away to let it out. 

And now that star rejoices with God as they laugh together, watching the light slowly chase the shadows from every corner of the earth.

That star's joy was made full in God's joy.

And that star's glory still shines bright today.

TL, 2/4/16

How you are fallen from heaven

 O Day Star, son of Dawn!

You said in your heart,

‘I will ascend to heaven;

above the stars of God 

I will set my throne on high;

I will make myself like the Most High.’

But you are brought down to Sheol,

to the far reaches of the pit.

[Excerpts from Isaiah 14]

*   *   *   *   *

And behold, the star that they had seen when it rose went before them until it came to rest over the place where the child was. When they saw the star, they rejoiced exceedingly with great joy.

[Matt 2:9-10]