Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star...

I really do wonder what you are!!

Space is very fascinating.   

In forth grade, we did this space exploration simulation unit that involved working in groups and watching brief episodes on the TV that gave us all specific jobs to accomplish some overall task dealing with the planets and what-not, that's as many details as I remember, but what I do remember is that I absolutely LOVED it!!! I generally hated science throughout school, but not during this unit!! I looked forward to it every day!  No other space lessons stick out in my mind throughout my school years...that couldn't have possibly been it?? I don't know...  

But, fast forward to last year when the third graders I was student teaching were doing a unit on space.  At this point in time I hadn't taken on the responsibilities of teaching science (thank God! for me and my students' sake!), so, as my cooperating teacher led all the lessons, I sat in amazement;  absorbing all that was being taught, as if learning it all for the first time.  Did you know that our sun is a star?!?!  I feel like everyone knows this but me...and I aced everything in school, my whole life...I feel, well, I don't know how I feel...but it seems like this is information I should know.  Thank goodness we have our whole lives to keep learning!  Anyway, every time science rolled around I was just awe-struck at our big, BIG universe!!    

Then, while preparing to teach the ST blend for Selah's preschool, and thinking maybe I would do something on stars, I stumbled across some books at the library on the subject.  I was reading through one of them with Selah and the very last line really stood out to me, and I've been pondering on it ever since.  I don't remember the exact quote, and the book has already been returned, but it was talking about the stars and how our sun is a star, and how there is a possibility that one of the stars that we see at night could possibly be a sun to another planet similar to ours and that someone out in the universe could be looking at our sun and seeing a tiny star... just let that sink in a bit... 

Isn't that incredible to think about?!?! 

Sure brings new meaning to that silly little song I sing daily!  We know so very little, or at least I do, about what all is out there in our universe.  It is mind-blowing to think that one of those itty-bitty stars, "up above the world so high, like a diamond in the sky", could be a life-sustaining sun to another solar system.  

Well then my thoughts got really outta control crazy...

What about God?? How does He fit into it all? I believe Him to be the Lord of the universe and to be the Father of Jesus Christ who came to Earth to die on a cross to save humanity from sin, I do...but if there are other forms of life out there...did God create them and their planets as well?? Did He send Jesus to all of their broken worlds, if they are broken, as well??  Has Jesus been bouncing around, planet to planet, saving souls all over space...in the same way??

These thoughts cannot completely be out of the realm of possibility right?  And these questions cannot be completely ludicrous, right?! Maybe it isn't very likely, but surely there is a chance, maybe there is more of a chance than we would like to believe.  I mean, there are very popular movies out there about this very subject (eh-hem, Star Wars...Star-Trek), so I'm not the only one who has thought these thoughts. 

Thinking about the vastness of our world doesn't make me feel small and insignificant though, which seems like maybe it should.  It actually makes me feel very honored and grateful to be apart of it all...whatever “ALL” is.  I am very appreciative of the life I have been given.  It also makes me very curious.  And it makes life exciting…to know that there is so much that is unknown; that there is still so much left to discover and learn.  I like the anticipation of maybe being able to understand it all one day, when I get to Heaven, if that's how that works.  So weird to think about, and also so fun!! I'm sure there isn't an appropriate adjective to describe how incredible it will be!

What are yall's thoughts on space?? Does it just blow your mind like it does me??