The Star

          This week I had two particularly significant conversations with two people who are very important to me.  Both occurred when I least expected them to, and despite being so disconnected from each other, something deep down thinks that they were divinely orchestrated.  It brings to mind the following quote from Elder Neal A. Maxwell, "The same God that placed that star in a precise orbit millennia before it appeared over Bethlehem in celebration of the birth of the Babe has given at least equal attention to placement of each of us in precise human orbits so that we may, if we will, illuminate the landscape of our individual lives, so that our light may not only lead others but warm them as well."

          Sometimes, when I worry about the future, I fear that chance or fate or outside forces beyond my control are suddenly going to intervene and block me off from critical opportunities that are important to me.  Why do we worry about things like that?  The God who orients the movement of the universe around the appearance of a single star will not neglect even the details of His children's lives, let alone the most important events.

          It's a funny thing about stars.  Each one is just a tiny pinprick of light in the night sky, yet the one that oriented itself above the sleeping Savior changed the lives of all those who saw it and believed in its significance.  Despite being in just one place in the sky, it meant something different to each person who viewed it, and to each civilization, Nephite and Jew.

          Compared with the infinite vastness of humanity spread throughout the universe, each one of us is no more of a single speck of light.  Yet if we orient our lives on the Savior, we too will warm and light the way for individuals in this, the Telestial Kingdom of stars in a way that no other person is in position to do.

          As we so shine for each other in our times and in our seasons, in our minutes, in our hours, in our days, in our weeks, in our years, we glide upon our wings towards each other.  When we get close enough, we will see one another not as stars, but suns, Celestial bodies that blaze with beauty as deep as eternity.  What was once disguised as a tiny blip on the horizon has become the globe of fire that lights our sky every day, powered by that light which proceeds from Jehovah to the immensity of space.

          How important is it, then, that we shine?  We may only be a single star, but our movements throughout the night sky have infinite significance.  If the every star decided not to shine because they didn't think anyone would miss their light, the entire universe would be shrouded in darkness.

          So shine this Christmas season.  You never know which wise man will choose your light as the guiding influence by which they chart his personal journey to find the Babe from Bethlehem, the Mighty God, even Jesus Christ, the Savior of the World.