Sitting in the porch swing this morning watching the birds and the squirrels scamper around and I’m thinking how much Chief enjoyed the gardening of spring and summer. He was always so proud of his first tomatoes, his favorite vegetable. I understand how he felt. I feel the same way when I pick a cucumber or a zucchini or see a budding zinnia open. I brag on my vegetables and talk to them when I’m watering them. My zucchini is a mammoth plant, shading two rows of zinnias. I told her she can calm down and give the zinnias some space. I usually put the squash in my huge pots but I put her and two tomato plants in the flower bed. The tomatoes are behaving but Miss Zucchini is showing out. Her blooms are as big as Penelope! I picked four zucchini today!

I have a cousin friend who is my quote meister! She sends me lots of quotes and they honestly always inspire a column. This morning when I woke, I read her quotes and was moved to tears by these beautiful words of Ralph Waldow Emerson. He wrote, “This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, love to complete your life.”

What glorious words to inspire and give thoughts to how we live our lives. We should speak these words often to our children when they are young.

God will give us “comfort on difficult days” through our prayers and will lift the weight of our worries off our shoulders and put them on his. I’ve had some difficult days in my 68 years on earth and I finally accepted that through prayer and with God’s grace I could make it through the nightmares of grief.

“Faith is the quiet calm before a storm. Faith is the anchor in a storm,” Kimberly Strain.

“Smiles when sadness intrudes.” Those smiles come readily from family and friends and God’s rays of sunshine. I always, too, study the clouds and look for God’s promised “rainbow to follow the clouds.” Sometimes it takes prayer on blended knee to grasp a rainbow.

“Laughter to kiss your lips.” I love those words and my lips are chapped from all the laughter in my life. My friend is sick with Covid and I could hardly hear her whispered hoarse voice on the phone this morning but I could hear the laughter that is such a big part of our friendship.

My heart is warmed every afternoon as I watch the magnificent coloring from Mother Nature’s paint brushes at sunset. “Sunsets to warm your heart.” Take time to watch Mother Nature paint the clouds and you’ll feel God’s presence.

“Hugs when your spirits sag…,” those wonderful tight hugs when someone you love wraps their arms around you. The warmth and love of human touch never fails to lift our spirits. “Beauty for our eyes to see” is all around us. We just have to slow down and take time to see the Earth’s wondrous landscape.

“Wishes for friendships to brighten your being.” Friends are spiritual gifts from God and we need to nurture and cherish our friendships. God wants us to share our faith with our friends. I love these two verses from Proverbs — “A friend loves at all times…” “Oil and perfume make the heart glad, and the sweetness of a friend comes from his earnest counsel.”

Faith is such an important element of the human existence. “Faith so that you can believe.” Faith gives meaning and purpose to life and gives us hope when days are full of darkness. Faith also teaches us forgiveness and acceptance of what comes in life. “Faith is the quiet calm before a storm. Faith is the anchor in a storm,” Kimberly Strain.

Ever said, “Oh, my God, I can’t do this!!!” Well, we do and we did, with a deep breath and God’s help. “Confidence for when you doubt.” Our belief that God walks besides us and buoys us up when we’re sinking gives us confidence to do things we feel incapable. He gives us strength to persevere. I admit I feel weak in confidence but through prayer and God’s grace I manage to put one foot in front of the other and keep walking down this path of life. I don’t doubt God, though. I know he’ll hold me up and walk with me till I can walk on my own.

“Courage to know yourself.” Do any of us really know ourselves? We’re stronger and wiser than we know. Emerson said, “The only person you are destined to become is the person you decided to be.” Make plans and start dreaming!

We all need to be gracious and have “patience to accept the truth.” Sometimes the truth is so hard to accept but with God’s grace and through prayer we can accept the losses. There will always be situations in our lives we can’t change, things that are beyond our control. It will still be painful but the acceptance of these trials in life gives us the power to move forward.

I love his phrase, “love to complete your life.” I had a passionate love affair with my husband and I’m grateful for the 41 years of marriage we shared. My life is now complete with the love of my brothers and their families, my children and my grandchildren, and my faithful friends. My life is completed by their love!

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” — Ralph Waldo Emerson