In a sky full of stars, there was a little star named Stella. While all the other stars twinkled brightly and confidently, Stella just shone a little bit, feeling shy and unsure of herself. Every night she looked down at the Earth with the other stars, but she was often too embarrassed to say anything, thinking her light wasn’t as bright as theirs.
“Why don’t you twinkle with us, little?”, asked Vira, a bright, curious comet who frequently passed by. Stella looked at her, her eyes wide.
“Those stars all shine so brightly,” she whispered as her light flickered slightly, “and I’m just little me. I don’t want to make them feel bad for shining less brightly when I pass by.”
“Oh, little star,” said Vira with a warm smile, gentle even as she sped through space, “you make everyone feel good just by being you. We all have unique lights, you know. Maybe some day you’ll feel brave enough to join in with us.”
As the days turned into months, Stella listened to the kind words of her celestial friend, but still each night she felt too shy to twinkle brightly. One night, the wise old moon noticed her. “What troubles you, little star?” he questioned kindly.
Stella explained her shyness to him and her fear of being less bright than the others.
“Child, do not feel shy,” the moon replied. “Twinkle, always twinkle! Show the children beneath you all the light you possess. You are their guiding star. It will never shine alone, for it always leaves a little light behind.”
Encouraged by the moon’s wise words, Stella thought about the children on earth watching her each night. She remembered how she had watched the sky with childlike wonder herself as she whirled and twinkled with joy. Perhaps her little twinkle was a light for those little ones?
The decision was made. That night, Stella shone out clear and bright, twinkling and sparkling with a courage she had never known before. The other stars crowded around her to peer upon her with envious eyes.
“What is the matter, Stella? Have you found a little shine in you at last, my child?”
Little Stella laughed aloud and looked down on the earth, where here and there among the millions of lights, she could see children pointing her out joyfully, telling one another that their guiding star had wakened again. Then her twinkle grew dim, for she was forgotten now.
Years glided by; stars came and shone and faded away, but Stella was always there, twinkling her best, for she had found her self-worth and was no longer afraid. Night after night she sparkled in the azure sky above, silently reminding many a child somewhere down on Earth to embrace their uniqueness and shine their own light brightly—just as she had learned to do.