The wind y’all, oh my goodness, how it blows today. Guess the wart hog needed to lose a few more hairs! Love this quote, just stumbled upon it. “God provides the wind, man must raise the sails,” Augustine. You want to get anywhere on the sailboat of life, you better open your self to God and let him fill your sails with his wind. The most important motivator in our life should be God. If you don’t have God as your captain your sail boat will sit in stagnant water.

Been sitting in the porch swing pondering, blowing around, no need to push the swing with my foot, the wind has enough force to give me a gentle ride. I actually enjoy the slow pace of a dreary day. Only a few cardinals and titmice on the feeders, guess the birds are all hunkered down waiting for the coming rain storm. The wind chimes are deafening with their obnoxious banging, searching for a way to produce a pleasant symphony with their loud tintinnabulations. Been looking at the sky and watching the thin grey wispy clouds rapidly float across overcast horizon. Late afternoon the clouds turned dark and purple and let loose a heavy torrential rain. I watched the bamboo in the backyard trying to stand united against the wind but they were bent down and twisted around, heavy with rain on their backs.

Oldest brother came to visit late afternoon and a winter’s wind greeted me at 45 degrees when I opened the front door. When I left the swing earlier it was a summery but windy 76 degrees. I don’t know if Mother Nature needs some training for being indecisive on the seasons or some serious therapy. This weather, you never know what season you’ll greet in the morning.

The sunset was closed to viewing today but I know that didn’t deter Mother Nature from painting the heavens with her watercolors. She only paints for God and shares her sunsets with us when we’re fortunate enough to view them. I imagine her painting with bold bright colors today, the sun stepping on stage in a luxurious evening gown of emerald green beryl, long opalescent gloves on her long slender arms, the stage a backdrop of shrimp pink clouds, highlighted with thin turquoise brush strokes. The gown’s train sliding down the horizon in a ruffle of dark watermelon pink. The day bedded down in a rainy fog, the moon and stars cozy in their cloud covers. Another night wakes and morning waits.

I guess dreary days are lonesome for some but I love a dreary rainy day, peaceful and relaxing, time for reflecting on my blessings, time to porch ponder and watch the clouds in all their smoky beauty, waiting for the rain’s scent to fill the air knowing I will soon have to leave the swing if the rain is too strong. A good day for quote searching, letter writing, reading, taking down the last Christmas tree, or the stair railing garland. Nope, Christmas is still holding onto the breakfast room and the stair bannisters. Doesn’t bother me, I’ll get around to it.

“Only a select few are able to see the true beauty that lies behind what just might seem like a rainy day or great sky,” Jessica M. Laar. The beauty in a rainy day, hope you can see it. Not just in the wondrous watercolors of greys coloring the clouds in the heavens but see the beauty of God’s joy and hope in the blessings in the world around us. God sends the rain to water the Earth and continuously rains his loving warmth down upon us. Life isn’t always sunshine and rainbows. We need days of reflection to help us remember God’s faithfulness in our lives, reminding us to serve him and go to him in prayer and thanksgiving. Psalm 145:13 reads, “The Lord is faithful to all His promises and loving toward all He has made.”

The rain of life’s storms will eventually end and the dreary day will bloom into the warmth of the sunshine. God is with us on the dreary rainy days, holding an umbrella of faith over our heads. He never leaves us alone on the dark days but we have to reach out and grab his outstretched hands. He will always help us stand tall in our faith.

“Be still, sad heart! and cease repining; Behind the clouds is the sun still shining; Thy fate is the common fate of all, Into each life some rain must fall,” — Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.