First quote of the day, “Eat a live frog first thing in the morning and nothing worse will happen to you the rest of the day,” Mark Twain. That’s great, I love that! Made me think about a story Chief loved to tell our children. He and a friend were at a restaurant once and the men at the table beside them had ordered frog legs. Every time one of them picked up a frog leg and started to eat it, his friend would make a croaking sound. The first few times the men looked funny at the legs, then they realized it was Chief and his friend. I don’t mind having a frog around, had a tree frog jump on my head once in my bathroom, but I “ain’t” eating their legs!

Grandpaw raccoon was petrified by the fireworks last night. Stew was shutting the curtains in the dining room and saw him cowering on the top of the large bakers rack on the side porch. Even Penelope’s barking didn’t phase him. Bless his heart, he was curled up scared to death. Maybe that will deter him from coming back.

The day is so pretty. Blue sky covered in mackerel scale clouds. Mother Nature paints those clouds so beautifully during the sunset. I hope they stay around in the sky all day. Well, Mother Nature has blown all the mackerel clouds away with her wind. Guess she didn’t have the patience to paint all those scales. Now as Ella Fitzgerald says, “Blue skies smiling at me. Nothing but blue skies do I see.” And they are beautiful blue skies on this first day of 2024.

The wind has set the bamboo to dancing, their slender branches clapping in the breeze, and the wind chimes are loud and boisterous, their happy sounding tintinnabulations echoing around the neighborhood. The yard symphony’s full orchestra is keeping beat with the wind’s breezes, the bamboo leaf drum rustles adding accents to the winter day concert. The birds are enjoying the cool day, flitting around the yard, singing and talking while visiting the bird feeders. A small flock of goldfinches has joined the usual songbird crowd. They like the new yellow thistle feeder.

The sun has a bright blue sky to beam her light down as she ascends the horizon. Right now the sun is as bright and white as a blinding lighthouse beam in foggy weather, too bright but to get a brief glance. Mother Nature has painted the horizon in a subdued pale peach that blends perfectly into the melted vanilla and light turquoise sky above. The sun slowly rolled down the horizon stage, her pageant gown the color of a spring peach not yet ripe. As the sun turns off the day’s lights, a soft wash of pale peach colors the horizon, ending the first day of the new year in beautiful subdued hues. I haven’t looked but I know Father Sky has done his duties and waked the moon and pinned the stars to the navy sky canopy.

You ever sit on the porch or out in the yard at night and do a little star gazing? Course its too chilly to do that now but I enjoy doing that on warm nights. Some nights before I go to bed, I walk out on the sidewalk or on the back deck and look up at the night sky. Just glancing up at the moon and the twinkling stars reminds me that we are small creations on this planet Earth. Keep glancing and you will see the wonder that God has created in the velvet sky with his luminous moon and jeweled stars, declaring his love for us and for his creation. We witness his power and glory through the night sky. God said, “Let there be lights in the expanse of the heavens to separate the day from the night. And let them be for signs and for seasons, and for days and years, and let them be lights in the expanse of the heavens to give light upon the earth.”

A star is a beacon of hope, a light to guide our way, and a symbol of love. God can be our star, our lighthouse beacon of love and light, helping us find the way in this new year of new beginnings. The dark nights of our lives aren’t always hopeless because when we ask God for help, his light and his love will brighten even the darkest path. Through prayer we lay our worries in God’s hands and through our prayers of thanksgiving we lay our thank yous on his heart.

Jesus teaches us that we are the lights of the world. We all have the light of God’s love inside our hearts and we should shine our lights to help others who are living in darkness. Just a little light can give hope to the hopeless. No matter how small our star is we can make a difference in the world with our light of God’s love.

“When you miss me, just look up to the night sky and remember, I’m like a star: sometimes you can’t see me, but I’m always there.” —Jayde Nicole