‘ Oh it’s so good to get the weight off my paws’ sighed Mama as the waiter ushered her to a seat at the dinner table. The other bears echoed her sentiments because their paws also felt pressurised and pulverised from the day’s activities. From the break of dawn, they must have trekked miles on foot as they explored a sampling of the wonders of the Algarve, and every step had been well worth the effort. They had wandered away from the holiday hot-spots to the warmth and charm of the sleepy villages inland where old men sat in the sun playing dominoes and there was little to ruffle the tranquil atmosphere where life was lived at a snail’s pace. What a day’s sightseeing it had been.

But now it was late evening and it was time to relax (or ‘chill out’ as Puff would say) and savour the delights of mouth watering food. They were at a fish restaurant which specialised in the local catch and that was more than enough to make any bear’s mouth water! Their table was open air with a solitary candle flickering as a centrepiece. Around them they could distinguish a variety of foreign accents , some gossiping in German, others conversing in Chinese and still others discussing the day in Dutch.

‘It’s so fascinating to listen to all these unfamiliar languages’ remarked young Padders as he silently witnessed the mouths of the other diners shape the various sounds and chatter away so naturally. ‘ I wish I could speak and understand all the languages of he world’ he said..

Papa agreed, but he added that there was nothing more fascinating that the language of the sky! What a strange thing to say!

‘ Did you say the language of the sky Papa ? Surely the sky cannot speak?’ said Padders thinking this was so sort of joke.

‘ Of course it can’ answered Papa. ‘ Haven’t you heard the sky speaking recently to you ? It never stops talking!’

They looked at him as if he had gone crazy - maybe the intense heat of the sun had affected him, thought Padders.

Each of them in turn gazed up at the sky which was studded with stars and sparkled like jewelled tiara. The moon was almost full to add lustre to the spectacle. It was undoubtedly a marvellous exhibition, but no-one heard any words being uttered by these celestial bodies.

After allowing them ample time to soak in the splendour of the stars and the greatness of the galaxies, Papa continued ‘ If you were to open the Bible it would tell you that the heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they display knowledge. There is no speech or language where their voice is not heard. Their voice goes out into all the earth. their words to the ends of the world...

‘So I’m not teasing you or delirious’ he said, ‘ the sky speaks to us if we will only listen. It tells us all about the glory of God who made it.’

Padders summarised ‘ So Papa you are saying that we should look up at the sky either night or day and allow it to speak to us of how is our great God.’

‘ That’s exactly my point lad, or should I say the Bible’s point’ said Papa.

Mama added ‘ I think I can recall another verse in the Bible which states something similar. It says - Who is my equal ? says the Holy One. Lift up your eyes and look to the heavens. Who created all these ? He who brings out the starry host one by one and calls them each by name, because of His great power and mighty strength not one of them is missing...’

They were all so engrossed in the matter that they actually jumped with surprise when the waiter arrived and asked if they would like to see the menu!

They studied the menu for a time and when the order was taken, Papa shoved his paw into one of his deep pockets and searched around for a parcel he had purchased in a souvenir shop earlier in the day.

When he unwrapped it it was very small indeed and resembled a box of matches, but Papa insisted that there was more to it than that. He told them that it was a special match box and he had bought it for his cubs because a long time ago when he was a cub himself his Papa ( or Grandpapa) had once brought one exactly the same back from his travels.
Papa remembered the scene well. Apparently the shop assistant had told his Papa that it would glow brightly in the dark. On that night when his Papa arrived back home, he had said that he had a nice surprise. He asked for all the lights to be blown out and then he slipped his hand into his pocket and produced the special match box and set it of his cub’s knee. But it was his Papa that got the biggest surprise because it remained just as dark as the darkness all around! Nothing happened! It did not glow as was expected. He thought he had been conned, cheated by the shop assistant and he was sorely disappointed. He sat with the object on his lap and then noticed the instructions painted on the back of the box. They were written in Portuguese and so he decided to take it to school the following day and ask if any of the language teachers could find out what it meant.

A few nights later he stitched off all the lights and he said to his Papa - Now look at the special match box on the mantelpiece. There it was glittering and glowing in the gloomy darkness. His Papa was curious to know what he had done to make it work and he said that he had simply followed the instructions. The instructions told him ‘ If you keep me in the sunshine all day long, I’ll shine for you the whole night through.’ So that was the secret of the special match box.

Now as they all sat at the dinner table, Papa produced his new match box which he had exposed to the sun earlier on and indeed like magic it glowed on the table dwarfing the candlelight. Some of the other diners looked in their direction as the little box radiated like the rays of the sun.

But Papa didn’t miss the opportunity to teach Padders and Puff a little lesson. He told them that in exactly the same way, if they wanted to be bright and cheerful and able to shine in the darkness of this world, they needed to know the secret, that being - If you live in the sunshine of God’s presence all day long, then you’ll shine for Him the whole night through.

‘Yes’ said Padders still looking intently into the night sky ‘I want to shine just like those stars. I want to declare the glory of God.’