The sky canvas was a bowl of melted vanilla ice cream today. Father Sky kept the clouds tightly bound together, hard to make out the different colors swirled together but when I sat and stared at the clouds I could see gray and white and a faint purple, a little chocolate syrup mixed with some blueberry syrup. The breeze pinged my wind chimes’ pipes softly, accenting the songbirds’ choir rehearsal. The organ wind chimes across the street played serenely all afternoon, beckoning us into nature’s cathedral.

At dusk I gazed at a pink lemonade hue blushing the horizon around my street and house. The sun was just beaming bright and golden and a beautiful watercolor wash of the palest pink began coloring the sky. Next time I looked Mother Nature had lit a raging wildfire burning across the horizon in oranges and reds. Father Sky scorched his nose hair kissing the sun goodnight. He tried to wake the stars, deep in their cloud covers, but could not stir them. He pinned a full happy moon, who peeped out from his dark gray cloud covers, beaming his direction for the night travelers.

Years ago I started collecting bird Christmas ornaments but never could hang them on a cedar tree because they’re so heavy. I had this great idea to just hang the ornaments on a tree limb from my oak tree. I found the perfect limb outside on the driveway, brought it in the house and pushed it down in a large pottery churn that holds a collection of family walking canes. It looked great and I started carefully hanging the ornaments. I was so proud of how pretty it looked. Oldest brother came over, we walked into the lady den so I could show him the bird tree, two branches of the limb fell off. I was crushed but a little florist wire got the limbs repaired and I rehung the birds. I think it’s so pretty. Noticed one side is leaning now, though, hope it lasts till our family dinner!

I love this quote by E.E. Cummings. “Be as a bird perched on a frail branch that she feels bending beneath her, still she sings away all the same, knowing she has wings.” I think we can compare ourselves to the birds of the skies. We build our nests and raise our children and set them free to make their way in the world. We pray they take a Godly path of prayer and thanksgiving on their life’s journey.

Some of us birds like to fly solo, soaring on the wings of life, finding our own wind currents. Others of us gravitate to the flocks and find our place in their flight patterns. Birds have wings but without the courage to use them, they are useless. Bible scripture mentions birds as symbols of faith and hope.

Our trust in God gives us wings of faith and gives us courage when the clouds get dark. When the twigs bend we know God will give us wings. His wings of love will help us soar through life. As long as we fly with God on our shoulders we can be sure our journey will lead us to heaven.

Faith is the bird that feels the light when the dawn is still dark. — Rabindranath Tagore.