“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord,” Psalm 150:6. Today was a glorious day to be alive and thankful for breath. I’m watching a sky overcast with vanilla clouds swirled with grays and blues. The songbirds are singing around the neighborhood, the squirrels are fussing in the old oaks and tall magnolias, the orange monarch and the yellow sulphur butterflies are dancing on the zinnias.

Fall is in full swing and darkening her days earlier each evening. My childhood prayer popped in my head as I walked down the street tonight to look at the sun setting on the horizon. “Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep. If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take. Please angels watch me through the night, and keep me safe till morning light.” This was my prayer every night when I was a child. This sweet prayer was considered a nursery rhyme in the 18th century. I’m sure generations of children have recited this prayer at bedtime and generations will continue to recite it.

Might be a children’s prayer but it’s a powerful message about the peace that comes when we genuinely trust in the Lord to keep us safe. We communicate with God through prayer. Just a simple thank you for the day is sufficient. Praying is just having a conversation with God. There is no right or wrong way to pray. The Lord can listen to our prayers any time of the day or night. Praying at night can comfort us and give us peace as we lay down our heads and shut our eyes for sleep. Praying in the morning or reading a short devotional can be a peaceful start to our morning. Prayer helps us stay closer to God.

We can recapture the glittery eyes of childhood when we take time to see the beauty in the world. We believe in the extra ordinary and we’ll see it right where we are, in the fall landscape, in the sunsets, in the magical curiosity of our grandchildren’s eyes. Unexpected twinkles of joy make a magical moment. Life can be full of magical moments but we have to believe and have faith to be blessed with these moments. We need to open our eyes to all the daily wonders from God. God is good and his goodness surrounds us. He holds the whole wondrous world in his hands.

“Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy up is to miss all.” — Robert Louis Stevenson