Well, Alabama pulled out a win at the Iron Bowl. Roll Tide! I love college football and miss watching it with Chief. We’d always have a tea party while we watched the ballgames. There are no perks to widowhood, changes every aspect of your life. Several Bible verses comforted me after Chief’s death. My favorite one to ponder on was Psalm 34:18. “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” I felt God’s comfort deeply in the early days of my grief and I was fortunate that my love strengthened my faith.

Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer.” — Romans12:12

C.S. Lewis wrote a collection of reflections about his grief after his wife’s death titled A Grief Observed. He wrote, “No one ever told me that grief felt so like fear. I am not afraid, but the sensation is like being afraid. The same fluttering in the stomach, the same restlessness, the yawning. I keep on swallowing. At other times it feels like being mildly drunk or concussed. There is a sort of invisible blanket between the world and me. I find it hard to take in what anyone says. Or perhaps, hard to want to take it in. I dread the moments when the house is empty. If only people would talk to one another and not to me.”

My dearest friend and I, both widowed in the same year, talk about how you never get over the death of a loved one, you just find your own way to live with it, putting one foot in front of the other, trudging down life’s path into the sunshine of God’s love.

Today was a prelude to the coming days of winter. Beautiful blue sky, some thin pale line clouds, golden sun rays, but Mother Nature turned down the temperature with her cool breeze. I cleaned out the bird baths and the faithful cardinals were quick to return to the feeders. My bird feeder was gone from the pole outside the lady den. I hope it blew off and a raccoon didn’t take it. Found it later and it had seeds in it, so guess it blew off. Might have been Fatty the squirrel trying to drag it off. He sat on it all day yesterday. Penelope would get on the back of the sofa and bark at him ferociously and he’d just turn around and look at her. Couldn’t help but laugh.

Oldest brother came by for a visit and for the first time this year we sat in the lady den, too cool for porch swing sitting. He was making homemade soup in his crock pot, told me his recipe, sounded delicious. His oven died, he couldn’t make cornbread, so I told him to make some cornbread pancakes. My mother-in-law called them corn pones. I love to butter them fresh and hot out of the skillet. Chief would put sorghum syrup on his. Fried some green tomatoes from my garden last week and made some corn pones, so delicious!

Looked in my daily quote book this afternoon and today’s quote is “Big shots are only little shots that keep shooting,” Christopher Morley. Had to ponder on this quote before I decided it was talking about persistence. Calvin Coolidge said, “Nothing in this world can take the place of persistence. Talent won’t; nothing is more common than unsuccessful men with talent. Genius won’t; unrewarded genius is practically a cliché. Education won’t; the world is full of educated fools. Persistence and determination alone are all-powerful.” How true! Those who are persistent and determined achieve their goals. Set your goals high and even if you don’t reach the highest one you’ll achieve something significant. Read a quote somewhere that said to shoot for the stars and the worst that could happen is you might land on the moon.

James 1:12 reads, “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him.” I think as Christians we have to be persistent in our faith. We can’t give up when God hasn’t answered our prayers or said no to things we’re praying for. When we’re determined with our prayers, God knows we depend on him and trust him with our needs.

We have to believe and be confident that God is always watching over us. Even when life is difficult we have to be persistent in our prayers knowing hope in the Lord can bring light to our darkest days.

“When it’s dark be the one who turned on the light.” — Joseph