I recently had the opportunity to listen to an Astronomy Professor talk about stars and her particular areas of study and how they relate to people. Her words were so inspiring!
As I thought more and more about her words, I couldn’t help but think of these words penned by John C. Cameron:
Brooke White included them in a sweet song. You can view it here:
Every star is different,
And so is every child.
Dr. Denise Stephens, Professor of Astronomy at BYU, confirms this truth. She says, “each has different attributes, each is at a different stage in its development, and each has a different mission.” The same can be said for each of us.
Dr. Stephens explains that even though “When you look at the stars in the night sky, they all appear to be roughly the same,” they aren’t. She explains, “That is because they are so far away…But if you look closely, you will notice that the brighter stars tend to be red or blue. Stars aren’t all white. Their color corresponds to their temperature. And when you are able to calculate the distance to a star, you can determine its true luminosity, or its true brightness.”
Some are bright and happy,
And some are meek and mild.
One of the largest stars in our galaxy has been named Betelgeuse (fun fact: it is the second-brightest star in the constellation Orion). This star is far brighter and produces far more energy than our sun does. It is a supergiant star in a late stage of stellar evolution. It is about 1,000 times larger in radius than our sun.
The smallest stars are called “white dwarfs” and are not actually stars, but the core remnants of stars that have died and already shed their outer layers into space.
Every one is needed
For just what he can do.
“If we replaced our sun with Betelgeuse,” Dr. Stephens says, “it would engulf all of the planets out to Jupiter!” “If the sun were colder or fainter, we would freeze.” Our sun is not the biggest, or the brightest. Nor is it the smallest or the coldest. Dr. Stephens continues,“As you further compare the sun’s characteristics—such as its color, lifetime, and magnetic activity—to that of other stars, you quickly realize that stars like the sun are ideal for providing an environment that can sustain life.”
We are all so quick to compare ourselves to one another. To wish we could be more like so-and-so and her ability to ___________. But we aren’t so-and-so. We weren’t meant to do _________ the same way she does.
You’re the only person
Who ever can be you.
In her book No One Can Take Your Place, Sheri Dew shares a personal story from her college days. She was about to enter the gym for basketball tryouts at BYU. She pulled open the door and looked inside. She said that girls were already inside running drills—”And they looked good!” She said, “Suddenly, every insecure cell in my body began to scream, ‘What are you thinking? You aren’t good enough to play ball here!’” She closed the door and never went in. She never tried out for the women’s basketball team. Thirty years later she shared that experience with a group of student athletes and their coaches. Afterward, a woman asked her if her story was true. She replied that it was.
The woman said, “Did you know that I was the coach of the 1971 BYU women’s basketball team?” Sheri Dew knew it. The coach then shared this unforgettable information: “In all my years of coaching, it is the only year I was not able to fill my roster, and we played that season one player short. All season I kept searching for one more girl to fill out our team, but I could never find her.”
You’re the only person who ever can be you. No one can take your place. Though we think everyone else is better or more qualified or more deserving, the fact remains. You are the only you. There will never be another you. No one else can fill your role because your role was written for you. There is no understudy.
Be Who You Were Meant to Be
I think that once we accept the fact that we have unique parts to play in life and that we are irreplaceable, the next challenge is to make sure we are living up to our own potential and not trying to be someone or something that we are not.
Dr. Stephens illustrates this concept beautifully. She explains that much of her research is done on objects called “brown dwarfs.” The scientific community generally refers to these objects as “failed stars” because they form like a star out of a cloud of gas and dust, but they don’t have enough mass to ignite hydrogen fusion in their cores. They never become stars. Dr. Stephens says, “I hate the label ‘failed stars,’ because these objects were never meant to be stars! They were created to be brown dwarfs. And they are amazing!”
Dr. Stephens explains that these brown dwarfs have cloud formations in their atmospheres, much like those on planets like Earth or Jupiter. She argues that brown dwarfs resemble planets more than they do stars. “…brown dwarfs provide astronomers with essential knowledge that could be obtained in no other way. They perfectly fill the measure of their creation and are not failed stars. If anything, they are overachieving planets.”
I was thinking of her words recently as I was out for a morning walk around a beautiful, peaceful lake. This lake has a healthy duck population year-round. I watched as a few ducks glided gracefully on the water. I pointed them out to my daughter who sat contently in her stroller. She asked, “What are they doing?” I tried to explain that they were swimming. It didn’t look like they were swimming, though. They looked so peaceful above the water. All the work and all of the effort was masked beneath the waterline.
For a brief moment, I thought to myself, “I wish I were more like these ducks. I feel like I am scrambling and working hard all the time from my head to my toes. Everyone can see I’m a mess. I wish I could glide along like these ducks and make it all look so effortless.” But as quickly as the though came, another thought came to my mind:
“But you weren’t meant to be a duck.”
I know this sounds silly, but the idea really struck me. I am not meant to be “a duck.” I am not wired to look like I’ve got it all together, keeping all of my effort below the surface. It isn’t who I am. It isn’t who I was meant to be. And. That. Is. OK.
Dr. Stephens says, “it is easy to get caught in the trap of comparing your life to the lives of others and to feel that your life is somehow lacking. When we are caught up in the race to perfection, setbacks, challenges, trials, and failures can seem overwhelming. Remember the lesson on stars. We are not all the same. We are not all meant to be the brightest star, the largest star, or the hottest star. In fact, we may not even be meant to be a star, and if we keep comparing ourselves against something that we are not, we will never find true happiness [joy] in this life.”
What About You?
Have you had a similar experience where you’ve seen someone or something and wished to be more _____________________? We are all in various locations along our journey, so sharing your point of view can help someone else. Comment below!
