Ate breakfast perched in the swing this morning under a dreary overcast sky. Overcast skies always makes me think of the color of a dirty white T-shirt that needs washing with Clorox. But I bet if I pay closer attention next time to the overcast sky I’ll discover the beauty in it I missed by not studying the sky carefully. I’m sure it has some magnificent traits. I’ll just have to find them.

After breakfast I watered my plants and filled up the bird feeders with sunflower seeds and the bird baths with fresh water. Lots of birds today, singing and flying around. Saw some chickadees, titmice, purple finches, doves, and my beautiful faithful cardinals. The blue jay soldiers were back in the oak tree, squawking and stealing acorns from the branches. Wish I could follow them and see if I could see where they are putting their stash of acorns. They’ve been diligently absconding with acorns all week. Probably got a big pile somewhere.

Sat on the swing all morning reading a book and watching the song birds and the fighter pilot hummingbirds. The hummingbirds were sword fighting with their beaks and chest bumping each other all morning. I could hear their beaks clicking during their sword fights. They and the fighting finches should join forces. They could have a formidable army and take over the yard and bird feeders.

Mid-day the sun burned off the dingy overcast sky and Father Sky painted his cerulean canvas with all shapes and sizes of fluffy white clouds. The clouds were so luminous on their cotton tops they looked like they had lightbulbs turned on inside their fluffiness.

Came in the house when it got hot and watched through my bedroom window as Father Sky the gathered the dark purple rain clouds. The rain clouds blew in and pushed the fluffy clouds away. Mother Nature cranked the wind up and set the bamboo to dancing the Twist and The Locomotion, but like it has been the last few days, the bamboo rain dances didn’t produce a drop. Maybe the rain will fall tomorrow.

The sun set in a bright ball of blinding white light tonight. Mother Nature discretely tinted the surrounding clouds and horizon with pale pink strokes of her sunset watercolors. I watched and waited for her to dip her paint brush in turquoise but the day was put to sleep in a pale pink backdrop. Beautiful in its quietness of color.

I finished my book late afternoon and started reading a few quotes looking for inspiration. I love quotes by Confucius. Sometimes I get stuck trying to figure out the deeper meaning and sometimes the meaning of his quotes is simple in its thoughts. Love this quote of his — “Roads were made for journeys not destinations.”

Think about how that thought can apply to our journeys through life. We are constantly traveling through life from birth to death. Is death our destination? Is true happiness our destination? Is love our destination? I don’t know. I’m pondering on this.

Just as the beauty of a trip is in the traveling, so is the beauty of our life as we travel its path. Life is an adventure. Life needs to be lived and savored. Life is so simple but we make it complicated by our choices. We can’t live our lives by worrying about things that we have no control over. We need to focus on the path of things that really matter and get rid of thoughts of things that don’t matter.

God never promised us a straight road through life. We never know what’s ahead of us on the journey. We’ll have wrecks, stop signs, and fast paced interstate lanes, and slow travels on two-lane roads as we age. Life is fraught with complications and changes. These choices we make when hit with a stop on our travels impact our journeys and define our purpose. Our purpose is to love God and show God’s love to others.

Life is glorious and wondrous and beautiful and sad and brutal all at the same time. We have to decide how to handle the bumps and curves in the road and decide which direction we need to travel. The right decision might not always be the easiest path but it puts us on the correct road to our destination. The experiences and memories we make on our journeys make us who we are and help us see and feel God’s presence in our lives.

We need to enjoy our life’s journey and not worry about the destination. It’s not how fast we get to our destination, it’s all about the beauty of the journey.

“Wherever you go, go with all your heart.” — Confucius