Look at the stars, Abraham, and believe I am...

(Phil Keaggy song, link here.)

It's a clear night, here in Pittsburgh. As I walked from my car up the steps to my front porch, I looked at the velvet blue sky with a symphony of stars. I love the stars. I can pick out Orion's belt, and if I take time, the Big and Little Dippers. That's about as far as my knowledge goes. But I've been out in the wild, where there are no city lights and seen shooting stars. And there is a comfort that comes from the night sky.

God declared Abraham would be the father of many nations, that his descendants would be as many as the stars, three times in Genesis: Genesis 15, when Abraham thought another man would inherit his wealth, as he had no offspring; in Genesis 22, after God tested Abraham by asking him to sacrifice his son Isaac; and Genesis 26, when God tells Isaac of the promise he made to his father Abraham.

Now, why, Sarah Louise, are you giving a theology discussion on a Wednesday night about a man who is long dead? We can see through history that Abraham did indeed become the father of nations? I don't know, exactly, except that as I got out of the car and looked at the sky, the lyric listed above was what came to me. It was a song I sang in college, at Cornerstone, a Wednesday night fellowship.

I'm just at this place where I am having a hard time believing that I'm going to wake up in the morning and get through the next day. I stayed late at work tonight because it was preferable to coming home and sitting in front of the TV.

And for whatever reason, I've been batting a thousand here, too. Most weeks I get at least one comment a day. This week, I've been lucky to get one every other day. So whatever it is, either people aren't reading anymore or I'm not writing something that touches people to comment. It's like writing for a wall. And I will be honest: I hate that! I am not a person who likes long silences. I like communication. I like chit chat. I like background noise.

Right now all I want to do is come up with a good list, so that when Blackbird comes over for Show and Tell tomorrow, she'll smile at my list, too. So here's a list, for Blackbird, a free association, ten stars:

1. Stars on Hollywood Blvd.
2. Stars in the sky
3. The Southern Cross (which I've never seen, but I love that Crosby Stills and Nash song...hold the phone...)
4. The movie Frequency, with Jim Caviezel, where they have those lights in the sky that make the atmosphere different.
5. Singing "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" with my Mother Goose moms and babes.
6. "If you wish upon a star..."
7. Star light, Star bright, first star I see tonight. I wish I may, I wish I might, have the wish I wish tonight.
8. The Star Belly Sneeches that had "stars upon thars" from Dr. Seuss
9. Starry Night (both the Van Gogh painting and the Don McLean song)
10. You are my sunshine (cuz we all know, the sun is a big Mamma star!) -- another song I love to sing with my Mother Goose moms and babes (hold them babes tight, now!)

It's almost eleven and my yawns are increasing. For once I can't even prepare for show and tell because --erica wants to see our streets and folks, it's night out there.

So sleep tight, don't let the bed bugs bite.
And if they do, hit them with a shoe!