So pretty outside right now, early afternoon. The sky is a mixture of grey and blues. A silver rain is coming down in a steady pace but no wind so I’m perched in the swing enjoying the percussion sounds of a rain symphony. Well, the wind has blown in and so must I. I’m sitting in my reading chair watching a down pour too heavy for the bamboo to dance. The sky is melted vanilla. I don’t know how the sky can drop such a heavy rain without dark clouds. So glad for these healing rains. I thank God for them.

Been unpacking a box of photos and papers this afternoon. Yes, I’ve been back in the family home where I grew up for three years and I’ve still got boxes from our Alex City home in a closet. I tackled one box and found some prizes. A letter from Rosie was in the box she had mailed me the week she died. I got it at the end of the week and she was killed in a car wreck several days later. I read it through tears and could hear and feel her proud happiness of being a college freshman and the excitement of coming home for the weekend. She wrote about how she had decorated her dorm room and about the car her daddy had promised if she kept her grades up. She had been apart from the family for several weeks and it was obvious she had missed us by the questions about everyone. She was studying for a math test. Funny how several days after that letter made its way to our mailbox, our happiness could turn into a nightmare, and she would be gone.

There were lots of photos of the children and handmade cards they had made Chief. Thomas had been named Alabama’s Engineering Student of the Year for 2004 by the Alabama Society of Professional Engineers and the paperwork for the award was in the box. I was very impressed and felt proud to be his mother as I read the letters of recommendation from his professors. I had never seen these papers. This box was Chief’s, full of things from his desk and bookcases. So many jewels in this box!

Went out after supper to perch in the swing and watch Mother Nature brush her watercolors across the welkin. The sun rolled down the horizon on the arm of Father Sky, bright and blinding in her formal gown of sterling silver. As the sun said goodnight, a golden glow rushed across the skyline and where the clouds touched the sky a beautiful wash of watercolors in shades of dusty purple and pale peach contrasted beautifully against the aqua blue of the high sky. As twilight crept down the street with darkness trailing, Father Sky woke the moon and stars and the night awakened.

Chose a quote at random tonight. Opened the book and here it is. “Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang except those that sang best.” The Lord has blessed each and every one of us with talents. We all have something special that can make a difference in the world or a difference in someone’s life. Pablo Picasso said, “The meaning of life is to find your gift. The purpose is to give it away.”

We need to find our song and let the world hear it. A choir is made up of many voices. Our talents are unique to us. Some of us search for our talents others recognize them early. God gives us skills to bring his light to the world. Each of us should use our gifts as stewards for God’s grace. Romans 12:6 reads, “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.” Use your gifts to serve God.

“Your talent is God’s gift to you; what you do with it is your gift back to God.” — Leo Buscaglia