A beautiful summer day in my neighborhood today. A gentle cool breeze is pinging the wind chimes, waking the earth from its slumber. The sky is the color of the wild blue yonder, full of fluffy clouds lazily floating along. The warmth from the bright sunshine is making the zinnias a scattered rainbow of colors in my garden. The birds songs are drifting on the breeze, singing from Mother Nature’s hymnal, and I’m perched on my porch swing church pew enjoying this wondrous day. Psalm 90:14 speaks of the joy of each day’s morning — “Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days.” Life is so precious and I’m thankful for every day.

Ate my breakfast bagel on the porch with Cat and Penelope begging for a crumb. Cat has been here for a few days, eaten half a bag of Purina cat chow, so guess she belongs to us now. She sleeps on the porch in Penelope’s playpen at night. Bet she’ll keep Balthazar, the king snake, off the porch. I hope so! Need to find her a proper name but still not sure if it’s a he cat or a she cat. Gonna take her to vet brother for a checkup this week.

Watched the sunset tonight, the sun a ripe peach rolling down the fruit basket of the horizon, caught by Father Sky before she fell off. Mother Nature tinted the sky pale pink and aqua as the twilight rushed across the neighborhood and welcomed the darkness of night. Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight and waked the moon and stars to bid the night hello.

Came in the house after sunset and got out my quote books. I wasn’t a fan of Aristotle Onassis and was kinda surprised to find this quote attributed to him. “Look up and find hope. Be optimistic and see the brighter side in the worst situation.” Great advice but so hard to do when life throws us a curveball and disrupts our days. Life is full of surprises and disappointments. We never know from one day to the next what might bring a storm of darkness. It’s important to nourish our faith each day through prayer and scripture reading so we can face life’s storms with God’s grace.

Curveballs always come unexpectedly and remind us of the fragility of life. Heartache and pain are part of our lives. Jesus said in John 16:33, “In this world you will have trouble.” These disruptions of life help build our faith as we rely on God to give us the strength to not be consumed by fear and depression. My mother always said God never gives us more than we can carry and if we can’t carry the load we move it to God’s shoulders and let him help us carry it. God will not leave our side. He’ll always help carry the load whether it’s light or whether it’s heavy.

Every time I’ve had a major crisis in my life, I hear my mama’s voice telling me God will help me through these days. I’ve been heavily laden and I’ve ranted at God. One good point about God, he lets us rant and rave. He can take it and continues to love us through it all. He has compassion and understands our trials and tribulations. He forgives our sins and prepares a place for us with him in heaven.

1 Peter 5:6 reads, “Humble yourselves beneath the mighty hand of God, and he will exalt you in due season.” Whatever curveball comes tomorrow, our faith, our hope, and our prayers will help lighten the darkness. We have to learn to choose to accept what God has planned for us. Once we give our lives completely over to Jesus through prayer and thanksgiving, we’ll find true joy in our days.

“Sometimes life throws us a curveball. It doesn’t go the way we planned. All that matters is how we handle it and the person we become on the other side.” ― Karina Hall