From my archives on this day of 2024…

Been lazy today, sitting in the lady den staring at the bird feeders, Penelope and I cozy under my cardinal blanket. Not many birds on the feeders this morning. I figured the little goldfinches ate so much yesterday they were home in their warm nests, sitting comfortably in their lazy bird chairs, tiny legs stretched out, their little stomachs bulging with sunflower seeds, too stuffed to visit the feeders today. Early afternoon they came back and swarmed all over the feeders with the cardinals. I think I saw two goldfinches that are molting and getting their new crayon yellow sport coats. Saw two titmice on the lady den window feeders, too. They usually stay on the feeder by the gardenias. Songbirds are such beautiful creatures, little feathered princes and princesses of God’s creation.

Today’s sunset was so beautiful in tropical colors of cherry pink and tangerine and lavender. I was cooking supper and running back and forth to the lady den to look out the windows to see what colors Mother Nature had on her paint brushes. The sunset pageant started with a yellow glow from the sun’s formal gown and once her gown touched the horizon it blazed up in a wildfire of tangerine and burned out quickly. Father Sky tucked the sun in under her cloud covers and the coloring of twilight began.

Mother Nature dipped her watercolor brushes in cherry pink and stroked layers of sun kissed pink across the sky, next painting layers of tangerine orange and lavender and purple, stacks of layers blending into each other and the pale turquoise of the high sky. A few cotton candy clouds were shaded yellow but quickly melted away. The clouds were in perfect even sizes, folded up like exquisite heirloom quilts stacked on a shelf in an antique linen closet, perfectly crafted in shades of island fruits. I took a few photographs of the sunset.

I continued looking at the sunset through twilight and watched the blackness of night cross the horizon like a zipper, closing up all the clouds between the sky and the horizon, till the horizon was completely zipped up black. Father Sky waked the moon, dragging him in his silver crescent shape to the night stage where he could stand high in the velvet night sky and conduct the pageant of the twinkling stars. The soporiferous darkness of night was wide awake, beautiful in its quietness. The tranquility of night is so wondrous. The day has gone to bed and the night sounds come alive. Looking forward to spring when I can sleep with the windows open and enjoy the night’s music.

The night sky is part of God’s handiwork and his glory. He’s painted the sun and the clouds and the moon and the twinkling stars and has promised us the sun will shine when the darkness ends. The sunrise symbolizes hope for a new day, a new beginning free of yesterday’s burdens that we let rest in God’s hands through our prayers.

I think sometimes we have to turn out the lights at night to see the brightness of the coming day. If we didn’t experience dark days in life, we’d never appreciate all the days brightened with God’s love. Just like we wouldn’t appreciate the wonder of the new day if we didn’t experience the beauty of a dark night. In John 8:12, Jesus says, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.”

“There’s a heaven on earth that so few ever find, though the map’s in your soul and the road’s in your mind.” — Dan Fogelberg