As children we were often told that the first star we see just before daybreak is the wishing star.  The common legend is that all we need to do is see the wishing star, close our eyes, make a wish and the wish will come true.  Pointing to the wishing star made the wish happen even faster.
  In reality, the morning star is not a star at all. It's a planet, the planet Venus.  In 8th grade science classes we learned about the planets, (there were nine of them then, now there are only eight).  One we learned about was Venus. It was very close to the earth and had a very great luminosity; it shined brighter than a star. In fact, on a clear day, Venus can be seen in the sky in broad daylight, but is seen best as it reflects the sun at its back.  Venus is bright, but Venus is not a star.
   In biblical times people didn't worry about the specifics, they focused on the truths. What they saw in the heavens may have actually been the planet Venus, but the truth was that what the night was the darkest, it always appeared. They may have seen the bright luminosity of the second planet closest to the sun, but the truth was that every day, right on time, it was there pointing the way.
   As Christians, we may not have risen early enough in the morning to see the "morning star" but we know it's there. We take confidence in knowing that even though we cannot see Him; our God is there, showing us the way.