When I walked out on the porch this morning, I was gifted with a beautiful cloudless, deep blue sky, bathed in bright clear golden sunshine. I sat on the porch in one of my black swings, leaning back on my bird patterned pillow, thinking the Lord has really outdone himself with this wondrous morning. Then I think, God is praying during this quietness. There is absolute silence in my yard. Not a bird is singing, not a leaf is rustling. I can hear a faint ping of a wind chime in the distance, like the high key notes on a piano, and a low rumble from the train tracks of a long gone locomotive. But in my yard it’s as silent as a morgue. I think Mother Nature and her planet Earth have their own music and if we just sit still and listen closely we can hear God’s sermon and the angel’s choir.

Have thought of a thousand different things today while enjoying the porch swing on this beautiful day. The sun came out for a little while, heated up the earth, then the clouds took over the blue sky. The yard is full of butterflies and songbirds. Kat has killed two chipmunks and is sleeping in a chipmunk induced food coma. Penelope is sulking because she wanted to help with the chipmunk torture and killing. I did try to intervene with Kat but gave up and let nature take its course.

I’ve been thinking of all my family’s stories created on this porch, how many children have been swung to sleep and played in the playpen where Penelope sleeps, how many teenagers got kissed goodnight at the front door, how many peas got shelled, how many water gun battles were fought, how many cap gun papers littered the porch tile. Four generations of my family have created memories on this porch.

Memories mean so much to me. Since I’ve been pondering on things, I’ve realized memories help keep our loved ones close and offer us comfort. Looking back at photos of loved ones helps us remember the laughter and life experiences we shared. Sharing moments with your children and grandchildren help create a personal bond with family members. Memories matter and remind us we are all connected. “Memory is a way of holding on to the things you love, the things you are, and the things you never want to lose,” Kevin Arnold. I think we should be conscious of making memories for our children and grandchildren to hold close when we’re gone, to help sooth their grief. I truly treasure my family memories.

Since I’ve moved back home, I’ve always thought till this morning, how much of a nuisance the bamboo are in my backyard. Bamboo is the poor man’s lumber. The poles have been cut for senior prom tiki huts, football goal posts on parade floats, fishing poles, and Chief cut them for fire wood. I’ve always enjoy watching them dance in the rain storms but never realized how beautiful my bamboo is when the early morning sunlight streams down through the different colored trunks and branches.

The sunlight was shining down perfectly through the bamboo forest when I pulled the curtains open this morning on the kitchen’s large plate glass windows. The sunlight was highlighting the myriad shades of green on the culms and limbs, gleaming on the open spaces where the sun shone brightest, opening the hidden spaces, filtering through the dark and light shadows cast on the thin leafy limbs, a perfect kaleidoscope of golden light and greenness. I’ve always thought the bamboo as an intrusive problem but today I saw them as a magnificient painting of God’s natural world.

If you gathered around the dinner table with your family today, be thankful for your happy and healthy children. Tell them you are proud of them and tell them you love them every day, many times! You never know what tomorrow brings. Yesterday is behind us, gone forever. Tomorrow is the gift of another day so make that day count!

The Bible says, “Teach us to number our days, that we may gain a heart of wisdom” (Psalm 90:12). Cherish each day and make it count by walking through it with God.

“When you arise in the morning think of what a privilege it is to be alive, to think, to enjoy, to love…” — Marcus Aurelius