Today was so pretty, clean blue sky blushed with thin wisps of frail white clouds, a wind strong and cool playing melodies on the wind chimes. My spend-the-night company and I sat in the lady den with our little puppy dogs and watched out the windows as the bamboo bent and twisted in the wind drafts. The tallest bamboo looked like they were reaching down to touch piano keys joining in the yard symphony of wind chimes and bird songs. The lone lonely whistle of the train added a big crescendo in the music and the steel train wheels’ clickety clacks brought a percussion drumbeat to the music. I love hearing these winter symphonies of nature.

As dusk darkened the yard and the sun was getting ready for her pageant of sunset, a flock of beautiful cardinals invaded the yard and frolicked among the bird feeders on both sides of the yard. I have never seen them so beautiful in their crimson and fawn-brown plumage. My friend was amazed and mesmerized watching them on the feeders. I told her Chief sends them at dusk each day to bid me goodnight.

Mother Nature was experimenting with peach and pink and orange watercolor washes tonight and brushed the bright yellow ball of the sun down a pageant runway of pale peach. For the runway curtains above she washed the horizon in shades of vanilla white and pale blueberry colored sticks of hard candy. A few solitaire clouds floating north were shaded the palest of pinks, so pretty against the blue sky of dusk. Father Sky kissed the sun good night and told her a story about the bejeweled sky and the Man in the Moon as he tucked her in her cloud covers of blueberry. The stars started to twinkle in the dark navy sky and Father Sky left the sunset pageant and waked the moon and hung him high on the night sky stage. Night began as the day’s light failed.

Love this quote — “Let us be thankful for the people who make us happy; they are the charming gardeners who make our souls blossom,” Marcel Proust. I’m thankful for the people who make me happy. And my soul blossoms with friends and family who make my life’s garden grow with light and love. It’s those we love the most that we take for granted. We assume they know how we feel about them so we don’t take the time to tell them how we feel, to show them how much we appreciate them.

God never takes us for granted. He loves us unconditionally and stands by our side through the trials and tribulations that run through our daily lives. He doesn’t judge our mistakes and always stretches his hands out to catch us when we fall. When we need a little nudge to get up and get going on the right path, God guides us through our faith. If you don’t have faith you’re walking on the steepest edge of a cliff on a dark rocky path.

We take God for granted when we don’t follow his commandments, thinking it’s okay because we’re forgiven for our sins when we ask God for forgiveness. Christianity is a constant struggle. We pray for things we want and feel we need but forget to pray prayers of thanksgiving for all our blessings. We can rely on God and know he listens to our prayers and will answer them. Sometimes we don’t receive the answer we are looking for but as time passes we realize God was correct in his answer to our prayers.

“We have to be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.” — E.M. Forster