Sat on the porch this morning pondering and watching the birds. The day is beginning beautifully, deep blue sky canvas dotted with bleached fluffy white clouds. A gentle cooling breeze, too soft to even ping the wind chimes, and the box fan are making the porch pondering pleasant. I love sitting here. I hope before I leave this world I can one time sit on a porch swing and look out over the ocean. It would be wondrous to watch the shore birds. I need to visit my Florida cousin and sit on her porch and ponder.

Mr. Towhee came back this morning and I got a good look at him, so handsome with white spots sprinkled on his black sport coat wings and dark reddish black eyes. He’s almost river dancing as he scratches around in the leaves and seeds under the bird feeders. The neighborhood red tailed hawk caught his breakfast right off the bird feeder this morning while I was watching and took it up on an oak limb to breakfast. Had to put my hand over my coffee cup to keep the floating fluffy bird down and feathers out of my coffee. He snatches a little unsuspecting bird lots of mornings, just nature’s way, I guess. The heat finally drove me back in the house and to my quote searching.

At dusk Penelope and I went out for our evening walk. I heard all this mocking bird commotion and I saw two large hoot owls, sitting on top of a telephone pole in my neighbor’s side yard. The owls sat motionless and stoic as the mocking bird pecked them and screamed at them. They just acted like it was a mosquito pestering them. The owls looked pretty scary to me and they watched me and Penelope when the mocking bird retreated to a power line to perch and do some more cussing at them. Walking back to my yard I noticed my first garden sunflower has bloomed and it’s the traditional sunflower yellow. Can’t wait for the colored ones to bloom. The buds are large so I should see them soon. Saw two ripe tomatoes for tomorrow’s sandwiches. Yummy!

The sky was so beautiful during our walk, aqua blue with wisps of pink candy cotton clouds softly floating around. The gloaming of day so pleasant, I sat in the swing for some porch pondering. Twilight was quickly falling and I thought of these two lines from Alfred Lord Tennyson’s poem, Crossing the Bar. “Twilight and evening bell, and after that the dark! I love that poem. It’s about death, crossing the ocean’s sandbar from earth to heaven and meeting our life’s pilot, God. It symbolizes death and the hope of a new life in eternity. Always think of Chief when I read the lines, “And may there be no moaning of the bar, when I put out to sea.” He loved the poem, too.

Read this quote last night and it’s stuck in my head. “If it doesn’t bring you love, peace, or positive energy, stop engaging with it. Simple as that.” Can’t attribute the quote to anyone but I think it’s good advice. Bet God has said that to a lot of us, including me. How many of us are dragging things around that don’t bring us love or peace. We’re so used to carrying them around we don’t even realize they are dragging us down and stealing our peace. It’s hard to let go of things we feel safe and comfortable with even when we know they are taking the positivity and sunshine from our lives.

People are meant to be loved but people don’t always love us back. People want to be needed but selfishly their needs don’t always bring love to the relationship. It’s hard for us to scale down our circle of people but sometimes that’s best and will bring us a sense of peace when we focus on the ones who bring us joy and contentment. Stop engaging with people and things that don’t bring light to your life. The world has enough of its own darkness without us causing dark clouds in our own skies.

Know anyone who just makes you feel better to be around them? Their positive energy can turn the day around. Saint Francis of Assisi wrote, “A single sunbeam is enough to drive away many shadows.” How true! We need to strive to be a sunbeam in the cloudy days of our family and friends. God will always be a light in our lives. Sometimes it’s hard to see the light but if we keep on praying and believe in God’s grace we will eventually see his light of faithfulness.

Micah 6:8 tells us how God wants us to live. “He has shown you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humble with your God?” As God said, our lives should be governed by justice, kindness, and humility. We should always treat people as we want to be treated, fairly and respectfully. Your love and faith can be a beacon of hope for others, a sunbeam in times of darkness.

“Spending time with God through prayer and his word is a prerequisite for having a great life and fulfilling your purpose.” — Joyce Meyer