Mother Nature and Father Sky created a beautiful day today. Mother Nature sent a soft wind to play peaceful hymns on the organ wind chimes across the street, hung the bright yellow sun high to beam her warmth down. Father Sky sketched some white fluffy clouds on his deep blue sky canvas, shading their bellies pale gray. The sun kissed the clouds bright white on their crowns. Mother Nature has almost finished painting all the tender new leaves on the tree branches. Her dogwoods dressed in their snow white blooms have never been more beautiful.

The bird song symphonies are glorious this morning, happy and cheerful, welcoming the day in all its spring glory. You know how there is always a member of the church choir who sings loudly off-key. Well, a pileated woodpecker perched on a high limb in the old oak tree just sung his heart out as an off-key soloist in the songbirds’ choir. He’d didn’t get the memo on the song choice today. Once he stopped, four big black crows sat in the top of the oak tree and fussed for 15 minutes. The crows hate the neighborhood owls. Maybe one of the owls was perched up there. The owls just ignore the pesky crows, even when they peck at them.

The handsome little indigo bunting joined the cardinals and doves and purple finches and goldfinches and a lone downy woodpecker this morning on the bird feeders. The indigo bunting perched on a feeder with a cardinal and a goldfinch was so pretty to see. Made me think of the bird feeder as an Easter basket full of red and blue and yellow dyed eggs. The male indigo bunting brought his mate today. I think the little hawk snatched her off a feeder for his lunch, though. So sad! The hawk flew through the porch right by my face and snatched the little bird off the feeder. The other birds all quickly flew to their safe places. The hawk came again late afternoon hunting for his supper. The birds flew away too quickly for the hawk to catch his supper, thank goodness.

Been enjoying the porch today, reading from my quote books. Agatha Christie said, “I like living. I have sometimes been wildly, disparagingly, acutely miserable, racked with sorrow; but through it all I still know quite certainly that just to be alive is a grand thing.” We all like living but we all face moments “racked with sorrow” that make life a brief hell on earth. The raging storms of losing a loved one, the blinding fog of grief, the countless questions of why.

When we pray for comfort we open the door to let in God’s healing presence. Matthew 5:4 declares, “Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.” Verse 18 in Psalm 34 reads, “The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.” I can’t imagine burying a child or a spouse, not having faith in a living God and his promise of eternal life with our loved ones who’ve gone ahead of us. Scripture says heaven is a place of perfect happiness so that assures me my loved ones will be there.

My friend, I call her my quote meister, sent me this quote today. “Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul and sings the tune without words and never stops at all,” Emily Dickenson. Hope is such a resilient and unremitting force, always perched in our mind. Birds can soar through the heavens with freedom, singing joyfully regardless of their circumstances. They sing because they can, not because they have to.

Scripture in Isaiah 40:31 reads, “But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.” Hope gives our hearts a song when we have no words but prayers. Hope’s wings have the power to lift our spirits and keep us soaring, even when we face life’s trials and tribulations.

“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” — Romans 15:13