I’m sitting in the porch swing enjoying my morning breakfast bagel and cantaloupe, watching the beautiful morning as it unfolds. A soft breeze is blowing the wind chimes pipes, pinging a soft melody, so quiet I have to sit still and listen for the music. The songbirds’ symphony is loud, everyone’s happily singing for their mates and the coming spring. The sky is azure blue and clear. Several jet contrails cross the sky stretching out to form large feather clouds. A small group of fluffy little clouds, resembling a school of fish in the blue sea of the sky, are swimming across the horizon.

Lots of birds eating from the feeders this morning. The male cardinals are so handsome in their dark crimson feathers. The squirrels, running back and forth across the street from my oak tree to the magnolia trees, are defending their territory, chasing each other in circles around the old oak tree trunk. A small group of brown magnolia leaves are clicking down the street, tumbling head over heels in the breezes. The sun is warm on my face. I bathed Penelope and she’s stretched our in her play pen letting her fur finish drying in the sunshine.

The mail came and I got a prize from a friend — a small book of quotes. I love it! Sat in the swing and read it from cover to cover. When I finished I could remember the words of three quotes. “No one shoots at Santa Claus,” Samuel Butler. “Never insult an alligator until after you have crossed the river,” Cordell Hull. “Never met a man I didn’t like,” Will Rogers. I remembered the quotes but I had to look back to see who they were attributed to.

“No one shoots Santa Claus” made me laugh but after a little research I found it was a campaign slogan used by Al Smith in 1936 when he ran against Franklin Roosevelt in the Democratic primary. The slogan was a warming to politicians attacking government entitlement programs. Those words made me think of the quote, “Never look a gift horse in the mouth.” In other words don’t criticize a gift even it you don’t like it. Imagine telling Santa you don’t like the gifts he left under the Christmas tree Christmas morning. Might find coal in your stocking the next Christmas.

“Never insult an alligator until you have crossed the river” makes me think of a children’s fable but I can also see the wisdom of this quote. We should not antagonize anyone who has power over us. Then again maybe these words remind us not to be quick to judge. We all fight battles and make assumptions about people and don’t think about the troubles they face crossing their own rivers.

Always heard that Will Roger’s was affable and a courteous gentleman and I can hear him saying, “Never met a man I didn’t like.” I can see Chief saying that phrase. He was such a faithful friend, always believing the best in everyone.

Now I’m thinking about famous quotes we can attribute to God. I’m thinking of how many quotes I can recall and I’m ashamed at how few I can quote. “Be still and know that I am God. I can do all this through him who gives me strength. I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude.” All of the quotes I remember are quotes that I relied on when Chief died and I was trying to navigate the darkness of my grief. I am so thankful that I have faith in my prayers and in God’s grace.

I love this verse, “Be still and know that I am God.” I always hear that verse in my mind when I watch the sunset at twilight. How can you not believe in a living God when you watch a sunset come alive across the horizon, the beautiful strokes of Mother Nature’s watercolor brushes painting the sunset, the stillness and quiet that comes when twilight sweeps across the landscape. The day ending in a glorious work of art in colors created by God’s promise of the sun rising on another new day.

“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest.” I think of this quote when I say my prayers at night knowing I can put my worries and my burdens in God’s hands and let his peace free me from the weight of carrying them.

“A fine quotation is a diamond in the hand of a man of wit and a pebble in the hand of a fool.” — Joseph Roux