Been perched in the swing on the porch, pondering most of today. Tried to eat my breakfast sitting in the swing but the wind was blowing the catkins off the old oak tree like a heavy snow flurry. The catkins kept landing in my coffee and on my plate. There were so many raining down, when the wind blew, Penelope would look up and watch them. Finally gave up and came in to watch Gunsmoke till the wind died down. The porch was covered with catkins when I came back outside. Had to fire up my leaf blower. Course that scared all my birds friends and squirrels away and made the neighborhood hoot owl head for the magnolias, cussing me with his loud hoots as he flew across the streeet.

Father Sky has been busy keeping his sky canvas full of clouds today. I enjoyed watching the gray cigar smoke clouds mixing with the pale purple clouds and the dull white clouds. I was wondering about a cloud’s journey through the sky. Are the clouds happiest on sunny blue sky days when the sun kisses their crowns as they slowly float by or do they enjoy the fast rides from the storm winds when they are bursting with raindrops?

Some of the afternoon clouds’ bellies were getting heavy with the forecasted rain as they bumped into each other and joined hands to cover up a tiny spot of blue sky I could see peeking out. So many colors of gray today in the sky — slate, granite, battleship, iron, and charcoal. I love looking up color words. The clouds were so beautiful as dusk swept over the neighborhood. No sunset pageant tonight. The pageant took place behind closed cloud doors.

Oliver Goldsmith said, “Life is a journey that must be travelled no matter how bad the roads and accommodations.” We all begin our life’s journey the day we are born and the journey is nonstop till the day we take our last breath. We’ll face changes and challenges but God knows the obstacles we face. He is always beside us, his love and grace helping us when we’re stumbling, smiling down when we’re walking an even straight path.

Our time on earth is limited and we need to make the most of our journey. When we’re older we realize that our destination matters but the experiences of our journey make life worthwhile. The purpose of life is not to be happy but to be useful, compassionate and kind to our fellow travelers, treating everyone fairly and with respect, treating others as we want to be treated.

John Wooden says, “Things work out best for those who make the best of how things work out.” That one little sentence sums up how to be content with our life. We know every day will not be perfect but the way we accept the challenges of those days determines the path we walk. We can give up, trip on the obstacles in our way, sit down and feel sorry for ourselves, or we can forge ahead knowing the obstacles will eventually disperse, strong in our faith that God will help us through the adversity, giving us the strength to keep going, trudging along till the sun warms our cheeks again.

We have to accept that life happens and regardless of our fears, everything does eventually work out in the end. Don’t let life’s challenges define you. We have to have patience and put our trust and our faith in God. “Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord our God will be with you wherever you go,” Joshua1:9.

“May the clouds in your life be only a background for a lovely sunset.” — Irish Saying