The sky was robin egg blue this morning marked with a waxing gibbous moon still up way past his bedtime, so handsome against the blue sky canvas. No clouds, just a lone buzzard circling and winding up in the sky, carried along on the cold wind currents. Lots of tintinnabulations from the wind chimes. The birds were riding the bird feeders in the strong wind, cardinals, goldfinches, purple finches, titmice, chickadees, and Mr. Downey Woodpecker. I filled up the all the feeders so I hope the raccoon family leaves things alone. I put hot pepper suet out and they haven’t bothered the suet baskets.

Today’s sunset started off on a canvas of the palest of blues. Mother Nature painted a beautiful sunset using watercolors of delicate golds and pale apricots, her brush strokes bringing the sunset to fruition and setting the stage for the sun to take her pageant walk across the horizon. The sun was gowned in pure white, her sequined gown blinding her admirers. As she walked across the skyline, Father Sky held her hand and ushered her down the peach colored steps of the night’s gloaming. As Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight and she turned off the day’s light, Father Sky left to set the stage for nightfall, waking the milky moon and celestial stars to guide the night travelers. “The stars are a reminder that even in the darkest of nights, there is always a light to guide you,” A Handful of Stars.

My favorite part of the day is a sunset completed in its beauty, waking the night, setting the stage for another day. Watching the sunset and reading this afternoon, I pondered on how these words can apply to the sky and its sunset and our lives. “There is something beautiful about a blank canvas, the nothingness of the beginning that is so simple and breathtakingly pure. It’s the paint that changes its meaning and the hand that creates the story. Every piece begins the same but in the end they are all uniquely different,” Piper Payne.

Those words are certainly true when related to the creation of the sunset masterpiece each night, painted in wondrous watercolors only to be found on the palettes of God and Mother Nature, a blank sky canvas coming alive as the sun slowly sinks on the painted horizon. A glorious end to another day with the promise of another tomorrow.

Every day we wake we have a new blank canvas of life to color. We don’t have to worry about yesterday or worry about tomorrow’s canvases. I think God gives us that blank canvas and tries to teach us how to paint. We choose our watercolors, staying in the lines of God’s guidance, or we try to paint without his guidance and find ourselves with an obscure painting in dark colors we don’t like and can’t understand. Sometimes we have to understand our dark paintings before we can create paintings with the light of God’s love. Some might say that God is the painter adding layers and dimensions of color on our canvas but I like to think we create our own masterpieces by the choices we make and the roads we travel.

The Bible says we are God’s masterpiece. Ephesians 2:10, “We are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we can do the good things he planned for us long ago.” I know there are times when we share the paint brush with God, times when he controls the brush strokes, and times he completely takes the paint brush from our hand. We are all beautiful and unique and our lives are magnificent blank canvases waiting to be colored by our life’s journey. If we let God help hold our paint brush, we will have beautiful brush strokes on our canvas, full of texture and luminosity.

“You have to know who you are. God breathed His life into you. You have royalty in your blood. You are excellent in every way. Now, put your shoulders back, hold your head up high, and start carrying yourself as royalty. You are not average. You are not ordinary. You are a masterpiece.” — Joel Osteen