hey girls

Once, there was a girl who grew up believing in fairy tales. She loved the idea that a knight in shining armor would come to rescue her from distress. For a while, she waited and anticipated for his arrival. But as time passed by, her rope of patience snapped and she sought out her missing prince. She brought her heart with her, ready to give it away once she finds her knight. Along her quest, she came across a number of princes. She met one prince and asked, "are you my missing prince?" and the prince answered, "yes, I am!" and then, she gave away a piece of her heart. But to the girl's dismay, she found out that he was not the prince she was looking for. And so she continued her venture in finding her missing prince. But not so long, she then again met a prince and asked the same question, "are you my missing prince?"  and the prince answered, "maybe, I am" and then, she gave away a piece of her heart. For a moment, they were happy. But one day, to her dismay, the prince ran away and left her. With a heavy feeling, she moved forward and went on with her journey to find her missing prince. Along the way, she met, yet again, another prince. And the usual question was asked, "are you my missing prince?" and the prince answered, "surely, I am!" and she gave away a piece of her heart. But then, like any other princes she had met, this prince turned out to be the wrong one. So she went on with her quest, only a small portion of her heart left. The girl felt sad and desperate so when she met the next prince, there wasn't a question asked anymore but a plea, "please, be my prince!" and the prince said, "only if you let me have a kiss". The girl was taken aback with the prince's demand. But she was tired of searching, and she wanted this prince too much so she eventually agreed to grant his request. As time went on, the girl continued to grant the prince's request everyday, investing more and more pieces of her heart to the prince. Until one day, the prince got sick of her and went away without a word. The girl grieved and finally gave up the quest. She journeyed home and that was when she noticed a prince waiting by her door. The prince asked, "will you be my princess?". The girl was in shock. Here was the prince she was searching for all her life! She wanted to say yes to him but there was nothing left of her heart, for she had given it all away to the wrong ones. 

The girl in the story represents lots of girls in the world. Perhaps, at some point, you were that girl. Many times, we search for 'the missing prince', only to realize that we have been kissing the wrong frogs for the longest time. We give away pieces of our heart without ever contemplating if this so-called prince is the right one. We give ourselves away too soon, and grieve when this 'prince' disappears, taking away a huge part of ourselves. We become a give away, an emotional prostitute because we don't know our worth. And I want to tell you that you are so valuable, so precious. You are not a freebie. You are designed to be the one pursued, not the one who pursues. Don't fret if your prince takes too long to arrive, the Author of your love story knows what He's doing. And besides, your worth is not based whether you are in a relationship or not. So stop wasting your time venturing for the 'missing prince' because your prince is not missing. He is just around the corner and you are going to meet under the right circumstances in the right time. Guard your heart and save it up for him. You are designed for one and only one prince. Stop being a give away, an emotional prostitute, a freebie because you are not those things. You are worth discovering, worth figuring out and worth pursuing. Know your worth. 

stories in a star

"Some of the stars you'll see out there don't exist anymore," said my father, gently turning the knobs of the telescope with his thumb. The gears squeaked softly. "Some of the stars you'll see have been dead for thousands of years already." 

"What you'll see with this telescope are not the stars as they are today but how they were thousands of years ago," he went on. "That's how far away they are; even the light takes centuries to reach us."

I liked the idea, how the past could be preserved, fossilized, in the stars. I wanted to think that somewhere on the other end of time, a hundred light-years from then, someone else, some distant future creature, might be looking back at the preserved image of me and my father at that very moment in my bedroom.

- Julia /The Age of Miracles / Karen Thompson Walker

I love stars. They are one of the most wonderful creatures ever created. Every night, I look outside my window into the sky to see if the stars have already appeared. And as I gaze upon them, all I'm left with is a deep sigh... awestruck with its magnificent beauty. 

I've heard it long ago - that some stars have been dead for such a long time and what we see is only just an evidence, like footprints,  that they have existed once upon a time. But after numerous times of repetition, I still find myself amazed with the idea that stars can, in some bizarre way, preserve the past. 

I was at a camp last month and I was blessed with the pleasure of seeing millions of visible stars, after what seemed like eons. Sadly though, the gadget I had did not have enough power to capture it clearly. So I took my own kind of weapons to remind me of that beautiful moment... 

There were so many stars that night. As I stared at each one of them, standing in the middle of numerous trees in the darkness, I thought about the people who died years ago who had gazed at the very same stars that I was staring at in that very precise moment. I thought about what those stars meant to them, about what those tiny, sparkling dots had made them feel, about what and how many wishes they had whispered to every star, about the story behind their stargazing. 

As I stared at each star, it occurred to me that I wasn't just staring at some cosmic matter but also, staring back at the millions of wishes and stories from the past. And I realized that somewhere on the other end of time, a hundred light-years from then, someone else, some distant future creature, might be looking back at the preserved image of a girl, who stood alone in the middle of numerous trees in the darkness, stuck in amazement of the stars. 

I am just another story in a star.