Today was a sultry summer day. Would love to have a lazy day in the swing but guess I’m getting too old when I can’t take the heat and humidity. Not many birds flitting around but I can hear the Sunday hymns they’re singing from the shade of the old water oak’s branches. Guess it’s too hot for them, too. I filled up the birds’ feeders with sweat dripping off my brow. Made it till lunch and even with the box fan on the porch, it was just too hot. Thank goodness for window unit air conditioning. I’m looking forward to fall porch days with my songbird friends.

I think it’s a good thing sometimes to unplug and disconnect from life and just enjoy the moment, do some mindless thinking. Sitting in my reading chair, I watched the sky all afternoon from my window. Father Sky kept changing the colors on his sky canvas from blue sky to grayish overcast sky to dark purple sky. He’d add cigar smoke clouds, fluffy white clouds, sketching and resketching his sky canvas. I think he was lost in his pastel drawings today.

America actually has an official Lazy Day celebrated on August 10! Did not know that when I sat down to do nothing today. I think we often find ourselves wishing we had a day designated as a do nothing day. We start out well but usually aren’t content just sitting around and find something that needs doing. We actually find it hard to do nothing. I think I find it too easy to do nothing.

Some of us are just wired for working, don’t know how to relax and slow down. Life runs at such a fast plugged in pace we don’t know how to stop and smell the roses. I love that expression but today’s roses don’t have the wonderful perfumes of old roses. Science has forgotten the roses’ fragrance genes, focusing on disease resistant plants.

Research says being lazy allows the body to rejuvenate and restore energy. Lazy people get sufficient sleep. We need sleep for improving memory and decreasing stress. Proper sleep decreases inflammation and gives us a great attention span. I don’t think I’ve had a restful night of sleep since Chief died. I’m not a napper so I drag through the day thinking a cup of coffee will restart my engine. Found a perfect quote for today. “Time you enjoy wasting is not wasted time,” Martha Troly-Curtin.

Scripture in Ecclesiastes says there is a “time for everything.” I think Ecclesiastes 3:1-8 speaks to every aspect of our lives. “There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.”

Some give credit to King Solomon for writing this scripture, his words speaking of the natural cycles of our lives, acknowledging that both positive and negative experiences are a natural part of life’s travels. Even though we have times we don’t understand God’s plan we have to trust in God’s divine wisdom.

God is in control of every moment of our lives, even the small ordinary day’s happenings. We have to accept the rhythms of our lives, recognizing that all we experience are part of God’s plan. When we don’t understand or question life, prayer can bring peace and comfort. Put your anxieties and fears in God’s hands and find strength in God’s presence.

Proverbs 3:5-6 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him and he will make your paths straight.” Trust God even when his plans don’t make sense. “Give thanks to the Lord, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever,” Psalm 36:6. God is good!

“Life with God is not immunity from difficulties, but peace in difficulties.” — C.S. Lewis