Today is such a pretty day with its blue sky and white clouds. The clouds are floating on the cool breeze filling up with rain and changing colors to grays and blues and purples getting ready to do a little storming tonight. The blue sky canvas is azure and turquoise where it peeks through when the clouds part. The birds love these days and the feeders are full of titmice and chickadees and finches and the faithful cardinals. I saw Mr. Downey clinging on the side of the new woodpecker feeder enjoying some apple suet. I know it’s a mister cause he has his little red beret on. Saw Nutty the nuthatch running down the old oak tree trunk. Might be another Nutty the nuthatch but I enjoy pretending he’s my friend visiting again.

I moved the bird feeder poles around the yard today putting one feeder pole that holds two feeders where I could see it out one of the lady den windows. Just took a few minutes for a little flock of finches to find the feeders. I can watch the birds while I watch Gunsmoke. Just heard Andy Griffith say, “He’s a fine little fella!” Chief would always say that about our grandsons. Glancing out the window I see cardinals and finches are fighting over the feeder perches now. My yard is teeming with cardinals.

The wind is beginning to pick up and the dark gray and purple clouds are banking on the horizon trying to hide Mother Nature’s sunset pageant. I saw a slice of peach peek through and I’m watching the sky to see which colors are on her watercolor brushes tonight. The bamboo are shaking, rattling and rolling around in the breezes. Watching them bend and sway made me think about the song, “Shake, Rattle, and Roll,” by Bill Haley and the Comets.

I find it so amazing that our brains just come up with the correct words when we talk or write. I’m also amazed at the vocabulary we are capable of remembering and using each day. The average American knows approximately 42,000 words. Sometimes when I write my blog a word I don’t use in conversation just types itself on the screen. I’ll even look the word up to see if I’m using it correctly. Got a small desk calendar for Christmas that teaches you a new vocabulary word each day. Today is the first day I didn’t know the definition of the daily word. The word for today was overweening which means showing excessive confidence. I’m so intellectually challenged, I was thinking about weaning a baby till I noticed it was spelled with ee and not ea. But, knowing seven words out of the first 8 ain’t bad!

Ran across this quote while reading this afternoon. “Life is not meant to be easy, my child; but take courage: it can be delightful,” George Bernard Shaw. Our lives are meant to be lived, to experience happiness and to experience sorrow. We have joy and we have misery. Every challenge we experience in our lives makes us stronger and teaches us to be thankful for the days when we have sunny skies and rainbows. We learn from our mistakes and our struggles.

I think our Christian faith is challenged on a daily basis. We wonder when things are going wrong have we disappointed God, is he making our lives more difficult to punish us? We are the ones who make things difficult when we make wrong choices, when we choose a path we know deep down is not one we should trod. God will let us stumble and bloody our knees waiting for us to call out to him in prayer. He is always there but we have to let him light our path and warm our hearts with his love. Through genuine and fervent prayers, we have to ask him for help and ask him for comfort and peace.

We should be so grateful that we’re not alone in this world, believing God is always standing close, giving us the courage to stand up in these hard times. Jesus says in John 16:33, “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Jesus is trying to assure us that when we face challenges, we can find peace and hope through our faith in him. I know I could not have lived through the death of my daughter without my faith and my prayers asking God for strength and hope to find a ray of sunshine in our darkest sorrow. God also gave me faith and grace to help Chief through his grief. And when Chief died I clung to my belief that I will be reunited with him in heaven. Despite all the challenges that we face in this beautiful life, we can always find peace and hope in God.

“May today there be peace within. May you trust God that you are exactly where you are meant to be. May you not forget the infinite possibilities that are born of faith. May you use those gifts that you have received, and pass on the love that has been given to you. May you be content knowing you are a child of God. Let this presence settle into your bones, and allow your soul the freedom to sing, dance, praise and love. It is there for each and every one of us.” — St. Teresa Of Avila