My cat is becoming a murderess executioner. She has been on a killing spree since Sunday. Chipmunks, lizards, and songbirds have been caught, tortured, and executed by Kat. She killed the fattest chipmunk this morning, I could hear her crunching the bones as she ate it. Ruined my breakfast. I took what was left of my breakfast to the kitchen and when I came back she had left me half of the chipmunk’s tail as a prize. I rescued a titmouse from her mouth yesterday, held it long enough for it to to get its breath back, and when I opened my hand it high tailed itself across the street to a tall magnolia tree. I bet that little titmouse told a tall tale around the dinner table last night. Cats kill 1.3 to 4 billion, yes billions, of birds each year. I believe Kat will add another million birds to that number.

Been thinking about gratitude today. Gratitude is being thankful for all the blessings in our life. Gratitude is also appreciation for what we have as opposed to what we want. Being thankful is appreciation for something given. My life is full of blessings and I’m grateful and thankful that I’m so fortunate to live this life. We take so many things for granted — a roof over our heads, clean drinking water, food, friends and family. “Gratitude can transform common days into thanksgivings, turn routine jobs into joy, and change ordinary opportunities into blessings,” William Arthur Ward

The times darkness and storms enter our life, we can “step into the darkness in faith, confident that God will place solid ground beneath our feet once we do,” Dieter F. Uchtdort. Traveling through life with God gives us a safety net of faith. God has our paths drawn out and when we put our trust in his grace, we can let go of the life we thought we’d travel, and can begin to walk the life God intends us to travel. “Never regret a day in your life: good days give happiness, bad days give experience, worst days give lessons, and best days give memories,” Unknown.

“A grateful perspective brings happiness and abundance into a person’s life.” — Andy Andrews

We can compare our life to a magnificent sunset, that glorious ending to another wondrous day. Sunsets don’t last forever and troubling times don’t last forever, either. “The sunset rays stretch out like a last embrace, before it retreats into its slumbering place. A sunset, like a life has its own story to tell, of beginnings and endings and joy and farewell. The vibrant hues, that streak across the sky, are like the memories that stay with us as time flies by,” Unknown. Sunsets help us appreciate the simple beauty in life’s small every day moments, powerful reminders of the beauty and mystery of life.

Each of us has a story to tell that stretches across the years of our lifetime. Some of us have bright sunny days ending with a glorious sunset of wondrous watercolors. Others of us stumble through life, looking for light and love, searching for something to grasp to help us hold on to a life line. “God’s silence is not God’s absence, so keep going,” Gugulethu Ndlovu. God is waiting for us to grasp his hand and walk with Christian faith into his eternal kingdom.

“One single grateful thought raised to heaven is the most perfect prayer.” — Gotthold Ephraim Lessing