Father Sky sketched a pale blue sky canvas this morning and rubbed his white pastel across the sky filling the heavens with thin white clouds. The songbirds were scarce today. I could hear their beautiful symphonies but the birds didn’t venture into the yard till late afternoon. I’m just amazed by the number of cardinals in my yard at dusk each day. I counted the males, they all bring their mates with them, stopped counting at 13 so I could just enjoy watching them. The wind was back today, too. The magnolia trees have been twisting around all day like a child dancing, holding the hem of their new party dress. I could hear the trees’ rustles adding a soft cymbal sizzle to the yard symphony. Mother Nature has given us summer and spring lately and has thrown in a freeze warning for tomorrow night. I just wonder if she’s mad or just worn out like every other mother I know. I’ve always heard if you don’t like the weather in Alabama today just wait till tomorrow.

I put my car under the deck in the backyard when we had the dangerous storms a few days ago. Was worried about running over a roofing nail from having a roof put on a few years ago as I drove down the driveway. I occasionally find a nail on the porch or in the yard. When I backed the car up the driveway, I had a little struggle trying to avoid a pile of cut bamboo, but was happy to have Theodosia back up the driveway in her regular place. Well, several days go by, haven’t been anywhere, but walking by the car with Penelope yesterday I look down and see a large roofing nail sticking out of the front tire on the driver’s side. I walked the driveway twice to be sure it was nail free, swept the carport before I drove down there, so it had to be in the pile of cut bamboo.

In my normal “helpless old woman” style my eyes well up with tears as I thought, “I need Chief!” I called oldest brother and pitifully begged him to take the car, at his leisure, to his mechanic friends to get the tire fixed. He told me to just drive it down there. I had so many reasons in my tearful voice of why I could not drive it down there — death from a blowout, a flat tire, a wreck, Chief wouldn’t want me to drive it, it was a man’s job — finally he kindly said he’d do it. Oldest son said, “Just drive it to a filling station and they’ll fix it.” Nope! Not going to drive it with that nail in the tire.

Don’t think you could find a service station in today’s world that actually does service. They are all self-serve gas pumps with a snack store. Remember the good old days of service station employees filling the car with gas, washing the windshield, checking the oil, putting air in the tires. Somebody please bring those gas stations back. I can hardly get the gas cap off now to fill the tank. Be sure to sell Icees, too. We old ladies would flock there and make you rich.

Course I started thinking how faith is like a nail in a tire. A nail in a tire can cause a flat tire, a nail in our faith can make us lose hope. Our lives are full of trials and challenges and setbacks, nails that puncture our faith and cause us to run off God’s path. Just as we have to find a way to fix our tire, we have to rely on our strength and faith in God to persevere, to find a way to carry on. James 1:2 reads, “Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy.”

These nails that prick us remind us of our blessings and deepen our trust and faith in God. When an unexpected nail punctures your life stay strong and rely on God. Be brave and resilient, knowing you are facing your difficulties with God standing beside you. 1 Corinthians 16:13 read, “Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong.”

When you get punctured by life don’t let it deflate your faith. Even though life is difficult sometimes it’s still so gloriously beautiful.

“If you only have a hammer, you tend to see every problem as a nail.” — Abraham Maslow