I sat and watched the birds this morning as I perched in my purple yard chair. Was a little too cool in the shade of the porch swing. I wonder why I haven’t seen a robin this year. Folklore says the robins brought fire from heaven so maybe they warm the earth, waking her for the coming spring. Perfect birds to herald spring since they return first to our yards after winter leaves us. Had a beautiful eastern bluebird visit my yard twice while I was sitting in the swing later. Bluebirds symbolize regeneration and growth, joy and hope. Handsome birds dressed in their vibrant deep blue coats and reddish vests. Puts a smile on my face to see the bluebirds of happiness.

I eagerly waited for the pageant of sunset tonight and it was glorious, worth the wait as I sat in the swing in the dimming light of the warm day’s gloaming. The sun was a blinding beacon of white, walking through the cornflower blue of Father Sky’s sky canvas. Mother Nature opened her paint tubes and brush stroked watercolors of apricot mist and hot pink all across the horizon, parting the colorful pink clouds for Father Sky to escort the sun down the stage of the sunset pageant.

The sun was dressed in an exquisite formal gown of white silk embellished with embroidered songbirds in the thread colors of the coming spring — the deep purple of the little wild violets, the crayon yellow of the daffodils, the pale pink of the delicate cherry blossoms, the pearly white of the Bradford pear tree flowers, the dark blue of the hyacinths’ petals, the salmon pink clusters of the flowering quince. Father Sky, clothed in his formal black tuxedo, with orchid cummerbund and matching bow tie, escorted the sun down the horizon as Mother Nature darkened her painted heavens, blazing up a beautiful bold apricot wildfire quickly going cold as the sun turned off the day’s light.

As dusk waned, Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight and hurried to wake Mr. Waxing Gibbous Moon, placing him center stage on the black velvet of the night sky canvas. Once Mr. Moon was in place, Father Sky studded the heavens with twinkling diamonds. Day was bedded down tight and the night wondrously awakened in its dark glory.

Ecclesiastes 1:5 reads, “The sun rises, and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.” In my mind, every time I read this verse, I see the sun running in her clicking high heels, her gorgeous dress caught up in one arm, hurrying to be in place for her sunset pageant. And I see her wake early in the morning to dress in her beautiful cloak of many colors for sunrise. She’s always in a hurry, not wanting to be scolded for being late.

Life is a continual journey of sunrises and sunsets. Richie Norton said, “Every sunset is an opportunity to reset. Every sunrise begins with new eyes.” Each day when the sun rises with God’s grace, we have a new beginning and a new ending. We need to be thankful for the opportunity to breathe in life. As Bernard Williams says,“There was never a night or a problem that could defeat sunrise or hope.” As the sunset ends the day we realize there is beauty in the darkness of the day’s end. We thank God for the day and its blessings and when there are worries we shift them to God’s shoulders through our prayers.

“The secret to a good morning is to watch the sunrise with an open heart,” Anthony T. Hincks. I think living with an open heart, a heart wide open receiving all the wonderful blessings of a Christian life, is the secret to a joyous life. If our hearts aren’t open to receive God’s love and grace we are missing an essential part of our journey through life.

“That was her magic — she could still see the sunset, even on the darkest days.” – Atticus