Today marks two years of my writing a blog. I’m sitting here tonight looking at a blank piece of paper patiently waiting for the words to come. Maybe I’m done…no I’m not, just kidding. Been doing chores all day in happy anticipation of Thanksgiving guests and didn’t ponder in the swing long enough to get my inspiration. Once I get going, my words just run down the page and I’m thankful for that ability.

Today was beautiful, fall blue sky, bright yellow sun, white fluffy clouds. The nourishing rain cleaned the air and watered the earth, greening the landscape. Mother Nature added a brisk wind to Father Sky’s sketch. My wind chimes enjoyed banging each other around all day playing loud raucous symphonies. The birds were busily filling their little stomachs to help them stay warm tonight. The fighting finches are back with lots of friends and they were arguing and gossiping around their favorite feeder. The oak tree rained down her now brown dressed ballerinas, their yellow costumes long gone. Fall is walking down the path to winter.

Bought a new mattress for my oldest grandson’s bed. I sat on the bed to reach some Christmas things in the bottom of the closet and I felt like I was sitting on a cushion of slinkies. I really need to buy that sweet boy a new bed to go with his new mattress. The twin bed mattress was shipped rolled up in a box! Wonders will never cease to amaze me! Well, my youngest son got the mattress out of the box, wanting to cuss, but bit his lip instead since I was trying to help, but so obviously not helping.

No way that mattress could have released itself. It was in a plastic straight jacket. We really needed a saber tooth tiger to gnaw the plastic open but once he rolled it out of the plastic, seriously, it was maybe an inch thick, it hissed like a snake, we both jumped back like it was going to strike us, and the mattress blew itself up. Never seen anything like it. Humans have been sleeping on mattresses for 77,000 years and been shipping them in a box since 2004. Isn’t modern man a marvel, shipping a mattress rolled up. What a great idea!

I missed the sun laying her head down at dusk and kissing the night hello. The time change has messed up my sunset observing, got to get back watching Mother Nature’s glorious watercolor paintings. I did go out on the porch, looking for the man in the moon, but only saw a few stars pinned on the dark purple sky canvas. Father Sky will put him on stage soon.

I was thinking about the beauty of the sun when it bursts through the clouds, how the sun’s warmth feels so good on our skin. Even when we can’t see the sun we know it’s there. An overcast sky, gloomy in its colors, evokes melancholy feelings, till a little ray breaks through and lights up the day. A genuine smile can break through someone’s overcast sky. God’s light warms the darkness, too.

We can have overcast skies in our lives, days where we stumble on the path of what we feel is the hopeless monotony of our world. The clouds in our lives cover the sun during the day and hide the stars at night. There are breaks in our day sometimes where we catch a fleeting glimpse of blue sky. Walt Whitman said, “Keep your face always toward the sunshine — and shadows will be all behind you.”

We make our own sun to break through the clouds that shadow us. Our sense of pessimism or optimism govern our day’s outcome. A good dose of optimism can turn things around in a hurry. We don’t have to walk in the darkness. We can seek the sunshine. God can take our dark clouds away and bring some sunshine back into our lives. Jeremiah 31:35 says, “The Lord makes the sun shine in the day.”

When our daughter died someone told me, “Everything happens for a reason.” Well, I searched for years and doubted my faith looking for that reason. It was an accident that she ran off the road. God did not push the car off the road. I don’t think everything happens for a reason but the way we respond to adversity can determine whether our remaining days will become sunny or stay cloudy. We make a conscious decision to see the sun or to see the clouds.

Look up at the sun and feel God’s warmth on your face. Our lives are full of trials but in God’s love we can find comfort and peace and the warmth of healing sunshine.

“When we cannot see the sunshine of God’s face, it is blessed to cower down beneath the shadow of his wings” — Charles H. Spurgeon