Every chance I get, I try to read more of Patricia St. John's book,
Star of Light with the girls in my Discipleship Group (D-Group). We meet every Thursday nights. I will read aloud to them at the table while they are either: coloring, scrap-booking, beading, etc. They amaze me at how much they can remember while their hands are moving.
Star of Light is set in Morocco and is about a boy named Hamid (10 or 11 years old) who tries to save his blind sister, Kinza, from being sold to a begger by their step-father. Hamid steals Kinza away in the middle of the night and they journey across the mountains until they reach a city where a Christian nurse lives. When they finally reach the city, Hamid leaves Kinza at the front door step of the nurse's house where the nurse takes her in. Hamid periodically tries to check on his sister, but keeps their relationship a secret from everyone. It is through Hamid's interactions with the Christian nurse that he learns about Jesus and his life is radically changed. There are really great scenes in the book and my girls have enjoyed listening to what happens next.
Last week, I read the chapter, "Supper at the Nurse's house". The nurse has a warm fire and dinner every night for the boys who live on the streets. Hamid, who is now like the other street kids, goes inside the nurse's house for the first time. He is hesitant at first because he is afraid that someone might figure out that the blind little girl under the nurse's care is his sister. He does his best to stay silent and stay out of the way. The nurse has a lesson that she teaches the boys every night before supper. The first night that Hamid is there the nurse brings out a book. But the book didn't have any words or pictures - each page was a color.
"The first page was shining gold and very beautiful" because it represents the "City of God" where there is only "pure joy and brightness and goodness." The next page was black, which the nurse explained is the "darkness and sadness of hearts that had done wrong." Then the nurse turned to the next page, which was red. Here the nurse explained that Jesus, who loves black-hearted little boys, came into the world and died on a cross so that their sins could be forgiven and their hearts could then be like the last page- white. With white hearts they could enter into the Golden City.
After I finished reading that section, I looked up and asked the girls if they had ever heard the gospel told that way before - they way the nurse had told it using colors. They hadn't. I asked if we should read that part again. They nodded their heads and listened closely. After hearing it a second time, they were able to remember each color with smiles on their faces.
"And the next page was spotless white; they would be made white enough to walk right into the light of the Golden City, and even that radiance would discover no spot." (Star of Light, Patricia St. John)
