Today has been so beautiful in so many ways — the sky, the birds, the sweet words from friends on the internet. A long phone call from a friend with a few tears and lots of laughs. I hope I go first because I could not get through some days without her words of wisdom and her laughter.

I sat in the porch swing for a while. The air was a little cool, but there were so many singing songbirds on all the feeders, I didn’t want to miss watching them. The red tail hawk swooped down for a breakfast of goldfinch but the little goldfinch left the feeder a split second before the hawk’s talons could catch him. Hawks are handsome and majestic birds with their cinnamon red tail feathers and dark-eyed regal profiles. I just happened to be watching the feeder and got a close look at the hawk. Going to find a good name for him. Maybe I’ll name him Cinnamon.

Oldest brother came over early afternoon and we sat on the porch and we talked about birds and squirrels. He’s got six pesky squirrels emptying his platform bird feeder. He sent one to squirrel to heaven this morning. When oldest brother gets to heaven, God is going to appoint him the squirrel keeper for sending so many squirrels to their heavenly home before their time. I was laughing to myself thinking about that while he went on about them cleaning the seeds out of his feeder. I just let my squirrels eat a day or two then I grease the poles and they feed on the ground till the grease wears off.

After oldest brother left I saw the fattest robin I have ever seen. It strutted around, its fat auburn colored breast puffed out, and walked right up to to the porch steps. I’ve never seen a robin in my yard here. I’ve seen flocks across the street but they never cross over. Course I immediately thought the robin was a gift from Chief to cheer me and bring some sunshine on this dismal day. Folklore says the robins brought fire from heaven. Perfect birds to herald spring since they return first to our yards after winter. They symbolize regeneration and growth and like the cardinals, the robins’ visits are from our loved ones in heaven.

I eagerly waited for the pageant of sunset tonight and it was glorious, worth the wait as I perched in the swing in the cold air of twilight. The sun was a blinding beacon of white, struggling to walk through the vanilla cloud cover of the overcast sky. Mother Nature opened her paint tubes and brush stroked watercolors of aqua and apricot all across the horizon and then parted the clouds for Father Sky to escort the sun down the horizon.

The sun was dressed in an exquisite formal gown of white silk embellished with embroidered birds in the thread colors of the coming spring — the violet of the little wild violets, the yellow of the dandelion blooms, the pale pink of the cherry blossoms, the pearly white of the Bradford pear tree blooms, the pale purple of the hyacinths, the salmon pink of the flowering quince. Father Sky, dressed in a formal black tuxedo with a pleated cummerbund and bow tie of orchid, walked the sun down the horizon as Mother Nature painted the heavens in a beautiful pale apricot.

Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight, as she turned out the day’s light, and went to wake the seven day old Mr. Waxing Crescent Moon in his first quarter and place him center stage on the black velvet of the night sky canvas. Once Mr. Moon was in place, Father Sky studded the heavens with the twinkling diamonds of the night sky. Day bedded down beautifully and the night awakened gloriously.

Been thinking about God’s footsteps today and how he marches through our lives. Sometimes he quietly observes us in the background of our lives, dressed in a long overcoat with the coattails almost dragging the ground. Sometimes we reach out to catch his coattails and let him drag us through the day’s darkness hoping he leads us into the light. We anticipate his coming when we’re deep in our prayers asking for help with our worries. Sometimes he whispers words of wisdom in our prayers and sometimes he stomps by trying to wake us up in our faithfulness. They way the world is behaving now I can see God stomping around and pushing those off his coattails who are not genuine in their Christinas faith, those trying to catch and ride his coattails into heaven.

Those who truly honor God in their hearts will receive eternal life. We can’t piggyback our way into heaven or ride God’s coattails to the pearly gates. We have to have walked a righteous path, an intentional way of life full of kindness and love for each other, modeling our life on Jesus’ teachings. God has a plan for our lives and when we walk in faith with him we’ll fulfill God’s plan for our lives.

“As you walk with Jesus, resting your head on His heart, you will learn to know His Word, His will, and His ways. You will want to obey Him, not out of forced compliance, but out of heartfelt connection. Your joy will abound as you remain in His love.”
― Sue Detweiler