This morning feels like a lover’s kiss of fall, cool and breezy, the sky a deep dark blue. The songbirds are singing, grateful for this gorgeous morning. The wind chimes are pinging a symphony of summer soon ending. Penelope is frisky, pulling me along, enjoying the fresh air, making me careful on the broken sidewalk obstacle course. I noticed the neighborhood water oak ballerinas have begun to let go of their tree branches, pirouetting down to rest on top of summer’s green grass. Bootsy, the neighborhood watch dog, walked by with her old arthritis crippled girl friend, Mollie. Mollie holds court on her front porch, doesn’t venture around the neighborhood much anymore, but she’s invigorated by the cool morning.

Such a glorious day. I’m perched in the swing watching two wisps of clouds morphing into swans, their long necks elegant, their wings outstretched in the blue sky. Soon as their wings unfold the wind pushes them away and Father Sky’s now light blue canvas is cloudless again. This beautiful day is making my heart sing. Ever thought about your heartsong? I think our heartsong is the genuine smile on our face and the joy in our heart that comes from being a Christian. Our heartsong radiates through our faith, a heartfelt expression of our true identity that speaks from deep within our heart.

We read in Proverbs 15, “A joyful heart makes a cheerful face.” We all occasionally lose our heartsong only to find it again through God’s grace. Longfellow wrote, “And the song, from beginning to end, I found again in the heart of a friend.” My dearest friend always helps me find my heartsong when it’s lost and she usually sings it with me. Sometimes I think we don’t find our heartsong till we’ve been tested by life’s harshest storms. When we walk back into the sunshine of life our faith is strong and our heartsong joyously sings of God’s grace and comfort.

“A joyful heart makes a cheerful face.”

I see God’s grace when I see my nephew Nate’s radiant smile, his heart song, beautiful and expressive, showing his joy of being alive. Overcoming a life threatening blood disease strengthened his heartsong and we hear it through his smile that lights the darkness. We read of God’s heartsong in Numbers 6:25-26 which reads, “May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you; the Lord make his face shine upon you and give you peace.”

The Holy Spirit puts a song in our heart, giving us the desire to express our love of God, when we find strength and encouragement in our faith. “He has put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God,” Psalm 40:30. Mother Nature brought her heart song alive tonight through her watercolor brush strokes across the heavens. As the sun rolled down the horizon like a copper penny, Mother Nature brushed watercolors of orange and pink and aqua and purple across the layers of clouds floating on the horizon painting a masterpiece for God to gaze on, her heartsong waking the moon and stars from their slumbers.

“Some days there won’t be a song in your heart. Sing anyway.” — Emory Austin