Today was a beautiful fall day with blue cloudless sky, warm amber sunshine. My yard is full of beautiful songbirds and bold colored butterflies. The red maple tree up the street is being touched on its crown by Mother Nature’s watercolor brushes, displaying herself in reds and oranges, getting ready to dress up for autumn’s pageantry of leaves. I love sitting in the swing on these fall days watching the progress of the trees coloring. The little dogwood trees across the street are dressed and buttoned up in their cardigans of dark purple and deep red waiting to drop their leaves at a moment’s notice.

Acorns are everywhere in my yard. Looks like little squished pumpkins on the sidewalk and street. I did some research and this year is a mast year meaning oaks and other species are producing unusually large crops. A healthy oak drops around 2,000 acorns but in a mast year might drop 10,000. Years ago I picked up enough acorns to fill a two gallon jar, gathering an inch or so a day. Didn’t have a lid for the jar and when I finally filled the jar, I dropped it going in the front door. Broke the jar, acorns bounced all over the living room. I can’t even remember what I had picked them up for. Probably something for the birds and squirrels. I remember cleaning up the mess and random acorns forever.

When the porch got hot this afternoon I came in and sat at my desk reading my collections of saved quotes and prayers and poems. These words are from my friend in Minnesota, as skilled in photography as he is with the English language. Michael writes, “The bee is my brother, we are one family. The wind is my sister, she calls out to me. The earth is my mother, I sprang from her womb. The sky is my father, he makes mother bloom.” You can interpret his words with some deep thoughts or just enjoy the metaphors.

Robert Louis Stevenson wrote “…Find out where joy resides, and give it a voice far beyond singing. For to miss the joy is to miss all.” Every time I read this quote I think of joyous day gone by — first time Chief told me he loved me (yes, he said it first), my wedding day, first time I held my first born, flying down a hill on a bike while not holding on to the handle bars, sitting in the rain on a beach full of birds with a dear friend, an indigo bunting on the bird feeder and a million more moments. I think something as simple as drinking a cup of coffee sitting in a porch swing can be joyful. Joyfulness doesn’t have to be a life changing moment. When we’re mindful of simple pleasures and blessings in our everyday lives, we’ll often have moments of joy.

This verse of scripture was written on the back of an envelope. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep,” Romans 12:55. I am so fortunate to have a beautiful friendship with an Alexander City friend. We’ve been close friends for over 40 years and have shared our joys and sorrows many, many times. We lost our husbands six months apart and have leaned on each other as we learned to walk the rocky path of widowhood. We also have the gift of genuine laughter and the ability to see humor in most situations. We need to be mindful to rejoice with our friends in joyful moments and to shed tears with our friends in sorrowful moments. Remember Proverbs 17:17, “A friend loves at all times.”

I love this thought from Helen Mirren. “One of the greatest gifts of growing older is discovering the exquisite art of being alone…Because solitude isn’t an absence — it’s fullness and peace of mind.” I’m lucky that I relish my solitude. I’m never more content than when I’m perched in the porch swing bird watching. I’m blessed that I love my solitude. I miss my Chief but I feel his presence in the nearness of the handsome red cardinals.

The greatest gift God bestows on us is life. “Then the Lord God formed man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living being,” Genesis 2:7. God gives us breath at birth and takes our breath at death. We are all loved and prized by God, created in his image, put on earth to spread the gospel of Christ. We preach the gospel everyday when we live our lives with compassion and love. Every opportunity we have to show kindness and generosity is an opportunity to share God’s words. God wants to be the center of our lives. We struggle with happiness when we put ourselves in the center of our lives, living a life of self-indulgence. Our lives will be empty without God’s light and his love. His faithfulness and his grace will sustain us. Our prayers will bring hope to our lives and sunshine to the darkness.

Living for God will bring peace and true happiness into your life. Put your life in God’s hands, experience the joy of being a Christian. God will take your hand and lead you to eternal life in the kingdom of heaven.

“God didn’t put us here just to indulge ourselves or have a good time. God put us here for a purpose — and that purpose is to live for Him and experience the joy of His presence every day.” — Billy Graham