Another day as pretty as can be. Don’t think I’ve had a good night’s sleep since Chief died but I did last night. I’m up earlier than usual having slept the whole night through for the first time in years. I woke to the birds singing and watched two squirrels frolic in the bamboo fronds near my bedroom window. Took Penelope for an early morning walk. The sky is a blaze of blue and beams of sunlight are kissing the dew making it sparkle like tiny diamonds on the grass and wildflowers. I saw a large robin in my neighbor’s yard, standing tall and proud. Such beautiful birds and legends say robins brought fire from heaven to earth. Folklore considers them holy birds, reminders of paradise and the Garden of Eden.

I had to take Penelope to get a shot for itching today. Vet brother gave her an allergy shot and a pedicure and we purchased a flea pill and were back home shortly. She loves to go to his clinic. Gets all excited when I say car, kinda sad the only time she get to ride in the car is to get a shot. I did take her to Jack’s once and the lady at the window gave her a chicken finger. Since I thought of Jack’s, thanks to the man in the black truck for paying for my biscuits on Monday. I passed it on and paid the bill for the car behind me.

I pondered on the porch today and watched the sky. The sky got dark purple once and I waited for a clap of thunder and a few rain drops but Father Sky erased the rain clouds and sketched some pale gray clouds leaving holes in their middles for the sun to peek through. As the sun would break through the clouds, she bleached the cloud edges bright white, so pretty against the dark blue sky.

As the afternoon waned, Mother Nature got out her watercolors and started layering her blues and purples and whites as she prepared for the pageant of sunset. The horizon looked just like a blueberry cobbler with a layer of vanilla ice cream on top. A few dark clouds were random blueberries that dropped off the cobbler. The sun was blinding and bright when she rolled down the horizon in a pale golden light, dressed formally in a gown of pink champagne. Father Sky took her hand and walked her down the runway as she kissed the day goodnight and invited twilight to party on the lawn.

Father Sky waked the moon in the dark of night and hung a tapestry of twinkling stars high in the heavens as a velvet darkness took over the day and a quietness settled on my yard. The night symphony orchestra is tuning its instruments now to join in the chorus of cicadas. Their music will lull me to sleep with its melodious sound.

Laughed about this quote all day. It’s crude but it tickles me. Can’t remember where I heard it but it was in my pile of quote papers. “I got viagra. I got mace.” I can hear that conversation at Shady Oaks from an old geezer and a grouchy old woman. And written under that was this quote. “No one is perfect. That’s why pencils have erasers,” Wolfgang Riebe. Been pondering on erasers all day. The delete button on my iPad is a much used eraser!

No one of us is perfect. We all share imperfections and we all make mistakes and we all use the eraser. We don’t need to hold ourselves to an expectation of perfection because that’s not attainable by anyone. It would be wonderful to get that eraser and take away things we did that’s caused pain to us or others. Erasers are wonderful things. You mess up, you just erase and start over. I can remember erasing math answers as a child so many times I’d make a hole in the paper. Erasers are reminders that mistakes are okay. Sometimes we have to try and fail before we get things right. We should all just enjoy being ourselves with our imperfections. Those imperfections are what make us unique. We don’t need to erase them.

God wants us to strive to do better and be better. He wants us to love him and worship him. God wants us to grow in our faith and live a Christian life. God wants us to treat people fairly and respectfully, to have humility, and to show kindness to others.

I think Jesus was perfect. He lived his entire life on earth in obedience to his father. He lived a life of perfection and love and kindness. God doesn’t expect us to be perfect. He sees and know well our imperfections and our shortcomings. He knows we’ll make mistakes. His love is unconditional and he offers us grace and forgiveness for our sins.

“God has graciously given us all things. Yet when He handed us the Bible, the one thing that He didn’t give us was a pencil with an eraser on it.” ― Craig D. Lounsbrough