Shining Like Stars

"Do everything without grumbling or arguing, so that you may become blameless and pure 'children of God without fault in a warped and crooked generation.' Then you will shine along them like stars in the sky as you hold firmly to the word of life. And then I will be able to boast on the day of Christ that I did not run or labour in vain."

Philippians 2:14-16

One of my favourite things about living where we do in the Scottish Highlands (especially during the winter months when the sky is dark for hours on end) is seeing the incredible stars in the sky. Because of the nature of my husband and I's work, we often end up going out for our evening walks with our dog at night when the stars have already out. It makes for our of my favourite activities during the winter months.

I've just spent the last week at a Christian youth festival with a bunch of young people from our local area. We spent the week looking at Paul's letter to the Philippians in the New Testament. For me, these were the stand out verses of the week.

When we go for walks in the winter at night, the stars in the sky are so incredibly bright. They are so bright that we sometimes don't even need to have a torch to be able to see where we are going. Because of the lack of light pollution in the Scottish Highlands, the stars shine brightly in the sky, lighting up the night sky so we can see all that's around us.

That's how Christians are supposed to be too. In a world that is so full of darkness, we need to shine like stars in the night sky. We need to be people of light who live in a way that brings hope to those around us. We need to be those who light up the lives of those we interact with and those who light up the places we live.

In a world so full of darkness, my prayer is that I can live in a way that shines the love Jesus has shown to me to those who are around me.