If you are a cloud and sky watcher like me we’ve seen a little of everything today. We’ve had blue skies with sunshine and white fluffy clouds and overcast skies and angry purple cloud skies and gentle rainfalls and heavy short lived rains. We’ve heard some thunderclaps and seen some lightning bolts. Father Sky has been working overtime with his cloud sketches. I put my ferns out to enjoy the rain but it didn’t last too long. I think they gobbled up a few good drinks, though. Weather radar shows some more heavier showers coming our way so I left the ferns out to enjoy the rain. A few claps of thunder sent me in the house and Penelope is hiding under the desk as I type.

I put a few handfuls of “critter feed” in the old bird bath top for the squirrels and they seem to like it. Didn’t want to put too much out and let it get ruined by the rain tonight. I’m hoping the squirrel food will keep them off the bird feeders but it might just make more squirrels come into the yard. The food looks like trail mix for critters — corn kernels, peanuts in the shell, some sunflower seeds, and millet, and some other seeds. I know Fatty will be the feeder hog.

Been reading quotes between watching the birds and the sky this afternoon. Amazes me how the rain doesn’t bother the cardinals. Most song birds will head to the bushes when the rain falls but the cardinals just keep on eating. I think they enjoy the showers. This quote, “Normal is a setting on a washing machine,” gave me a good laugh and stirred up a memory of Chief. The quote’s author is unknown but it should be Tom Saunders. We were doing something one time and Chief was making a simple project so difficult because of his lack of common sense. I kept giving him instructions and finally with my patience gone blurted out, “Why can’t we just do this normally like everyone else.” He then proceeded to tell me that normal was not a word and nothing was normal. I beg to differ, Chief, normal is a setting on the washing machine!

Another sunset taking place behind a curtain of clouds today. Mother Nature brushed the horizon a creamy vanilla with specks of light gray and pale blue. She painted the clouds with watercolors of dark gray and purple and tinted the rain a glistening silver as it fell from the sky. I envisioned every participant in the pageant of sunset as dressed in a rainbow of rainy day colors. The sun stepped on the pageant stage dressed in a formal gown of millstone gray taffeta. The gown’s hem featured small silver umbrellas embellished with raindrops of silver sequins and diamond beads.

Father Sky joined the sun on stage, handsome in his tuxedo of deluge grey, his chest pocket holding a Carolina gull colored pocket square. As the sun rolled down the horizon she grabbed Father Sky’s hand as he opened a large inky black umbrella to cover them from the silvery raindrops. As the day’s light quiets, dusk rides the damp air across the landscape and darkness rides the dusk’s coattails. The night begins as Father Sky wakes the moon and the twinkling stars, pulling them out their clouds covers and hanging them in the dark rainy sky. The days ends and the night begins.

I thought a lot about this quote today and how it pertains to how we see our lives. “Every day may not be glorious, but there’s something glorious every day. Find the glory!”— Caleb. We all have days where things don’t go our way but if we look hard enough we can find one little speck of glitter on that day, something to appreciate and be grateful for. Waking up with breath in our bodies for another her day is a miracle in itself. We’re not promised tomorrow but like we take for granted the sun will rise every morning we just presume God will grant us another day on Earth. We need to be grateful for each and every day.

“The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands” (Psalm 19:1). I think we find the glory of the day in God’s handiwork. We can look around and see the blessing of God in a beautiful songbird or in a sweet smile from someone we love. Life can be so dark at times and we wonder about our faith when our lives are interrupted by life’s storms and darkness. If we have God in our hearts, our prayers are heard and our burdens taken away. Faith in God can always bring a ray of sunshine into our lives. Look for God daily and you’ll find his glory right where you are.

“When your spirit is heavy, when your heart is broken, when your burdens seem unbearable — trust Him. Look to Him.” — Anne Graham Lotz.