The day was pretty, the sky dark blue and golden fingers of the sun warmed the day. I worked on my flower bed by the mailbox and filled the suet feeders up with new cakes. The big woodpeckers are still coming to the suet feeders. And the three little downy woodpeckers are still visiting together. My yard was full of birds all day — cardinals, doves, woodpeckers, titmice, chickadees, a wood thrush, a gray catbird, mockingbirds, a wood thrush and a wren and I saw a eastern phoebe. Never seen a phoebe around my yard but it was perched on the power line near the old oak tree.

Eastern phoebe’s are sometimes called plain birds but I think they are beautiful with their off-white and gray brown plumage. They are round and plump and their little heads look flat on top because they keep their feathers down. When they perch they move their tail feathers up and down like they’re pumping themselves up to fly away. They’re flycatchers and have a short thin bill for catching insects. Hope he ate lots of mosquitoes and feasted on the pesky flies before he left.

“Yesternight the sun went hence, and yet is here today,” John Donne. One thing is for certain, the sun will shine on us each day and today she put roses in my cheeks, I got so hot working in my garden. I look forward to the sunset every day and sit on the porch anticipating the beauty. “When your life is moving too fast and you find yourself in chaos, introduce yourself to each color of the sunset,” Christy Ann Martina.

The sun set tonight behind a cloud cover of vanilla cream and pale blue shades of Mother Nature’s watercolors. She brush stroked grays and dark blues across the clouds gathered around to watch the sunset and the sun rolled down the horizon in a bright silver ball. I sat on the porch as twilight walked down the street, escorting the darkness with it, and listened to the lonely birds’ symphony. Bird songs are so clear at night, hauntingly beautiful with their individual notes.

Sometimes I enjoy searching for prayers and ran across one I really love. This prayer is for friends — “Dear God, we ask that you bless our friends and fill them with your love, grace and peace. May they be guided by your wisdom and truth, and may they know your presence in their lives every day. Help them to be strong in times of difficulty, and to find joy and hope in the midst of life’s challenges. We pray that you would bless their relationships, their work and their families, and that you would guide them towards their God-given purpose. Surround them with loving and supportive friends, and bring people into their lives who will encourage and inspire them. We ask these blessings for our friends in the name of Jesus, and we give you thanks for the precious gift of friendship. Amen.” — Collective Blessings

When we pray we are communicating with God, praising him, confessing our sins, thanking him for our blessings, and asking him to take our worries off our shoulders. Daily prayers can bring so much peace to our lives when we open up our hearts to God. Prayers are powerful! I’ve seen them work miracles in my family when illness struck my grandson and my nephew.

When we put our thoughts on God and pray faithfully God will always hear our prayers and will answer them. Sometimes we pray prayers of thanksgiving and sometimes we say prayers for help with life’s dark times. Sometimes the answers are not what we want to hear but with patience and an open heart we’ll get a feeling of peace and calm when we realzie God knows the path we need to walk and will steer us in the right direction. God is always just a prayer away.

“In my deepest, darkest moments, what really got me through was a prayer. Sometimes my prayer was ‘Help me.’ Sometimes a prayer was ‘Thank you.’ What I’ve discovered is that intimate connection and communication with my creator will always get me through because I know my support, my help, is just a prayer away.” — Iyanla Vanzant