Another pretty day today, azure blue sky, lots of thin clouds dancing across the sky, changing shapes as fast as they formed. One cloud looked just like a long white fishing boat carrying a man and his dog across the blue sky water. The buzzards were back today circling our neighborhood, high in the sky, riding the wind current. I counted a dozen buzzards. A big black dog across the street hates buzzards, sits in his yard looking up toward the sky, watching them circle around, barking at them. Always wonder what the buzzards did to make the dog dislike them so.

A red tail hawk circled around the neighborhood mid-day, decided to visit my bird feeders for a late lunch, and snatched a goldfinch off a feeder. Always takes his bird lunch to a big magnolia tree across the street. The little birds never see him coming, me either. I hear the swoop and the wing motion of all the other birds leaving and when I look in that direction, a lone feather or two are floating down from the sky.

The sunset was a pageant of peach wildfire with the sun setting as a boiling ball of orange flames. I was watching her walk down the horizon when I got a phone call and distracted by the call, missed the sun turning off the day’s lights. Father Sky woke the six day old waxing crescent moon, pinned him high on the black velvet sky canvas, and surrounded him with the night’s twinkling diamonds. The day ended gloriously, the night waked beautifully.

Read lots of quotes today but never found one that really spoke to me till I sat down tonight and read again all the quotes I had highlighted today. Love this quote, “Paradise on earth is where I am,” Voltaire. This quote reminds me to be thankful for life, as it is now, and for my many blessings. Guess I am really lucky I feel I’m in paradise here in my family home, pondering in my porch swing, sitting on a black and white polka dot cushion, warm sunshine blushing my cheeks, bird songs and wind chime pings filling the air. Drop Chief down in the double rocking chair beside the swing and I’d have our paradise on earth. Don’t think I appreciated all the porch pondering days we shared. Never thought they would end so quickly. I know now sharing porch sitting and swing pondering together was a glorious happiness. I took those happy days for granted.

Paradise is defined as a place or state of bliss, felicity, or delight. Paradise on earth is defined as a place of perfect beauty and happiness existing on earth as opposed to in heaven. Sometimes we look for paradise with such a driving force that we don’t’ realize we are living in paradise right now here on planet Earth. Our paradise is all around us. We just can’t relax our search long enough to realize paradise is being surrounded by our loved ones. It’s kinda a harsh statement but if you wake up with breath, thank God for another day in paradise. We’re not guaranteed a tomorrow.

I like this quote, too. “Life moves forward. If you keep looking back, you won’t be able to see where you’re going,” Charles Carroll. When tragedy invades our lives, life just keeps moving along, the sun keeps rising, the world keeps turning on her axis, while we’re wondering how can life move on when our life is at a tragical standstill. It’s so hard not to look back, to focus on tomorrow, to move forward where our path is leading us now. We have to train ourselves to place one foot in front of the other and start walking down our new path. After stumbling down the path for a while, the walk will get easier, we’ll get more comfortable on the new path, and we’ll begin to feel the sun’s warmth on our face.

God will always point us in the correct direction when our life is at a crossroads. Praying and giving our worries over to his grace will help push us in the right direction and help us walk a Godly path through life. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths,” Proverbs 3:5-6.

“I think our life is a journey, and we make mistakes, and it’s how we learn from those mistakes and rebound from those mistakes that sets us on the path that we’re meant to be on,” Jay Ellis.