Today was a perfect porch pondering day. The azure blue sky was dotted with clean white cotton boll clouds slowly moving across the horizon, some of the cloud’s bellies cigar smoke gray with moisture. Rain is in the forecast for tomorrow. I hope it comes to fruition. The breeze was light enough for the wind chimes’ paddles to ping one note at the time and the yard symphony played out quiet and relaxing. The birds were singing, eating seeds from the feeders, sipping water from the bird baths. I felt my world was as it should be and I was content in its peaceful happiness.

Mother Nature chose the color orange for her sunset pageantry tonight. The sun lay her head down under a backdrop of pale orange, like a beautiful peach dressing in its ripeness, rich in its coloring, fading from bright pinkish orange to pale tangerine, a wonder to watch. Mother Nature strokes the sky every night with her watercolor brushes and never creates the same painting, or even uses the same colors. She must be inspired by the heavens above. Father Sky follows her beauty pageant, escorting the sun down the horizon, kissing her goodnight, uncovering the glowing stars and pale white moon, pinning them to the dark night sky canvas. I’ll never tire of watching Mother Nature paint the heavens. When I watched the sun set today, I had an immediate memory of an old yellow mixing bowl filled with ripe peaches resting on my grandmother McMurray’s kitchen table. One peach was resting near the bowl where it had tumbled out. A perfect still life for watercolor brushes.

Gift Gugu Mona said, “Sometimes we stumble and fall, it doesn’t mean we are failures, it simply means we are moving forward.” We all have the power to change the course of our lives. No matter how tough our circumstances are we can choose to keep moving forward. We might get bogged down or caught up in the traffic of life but we can make the difficult choices to take us down the correct path. Some time those choices aren’t that difficult, we just have to muster up the courage to step forward boldly and accept the challenges.

Our lives don’t get better by chance, they get better by change. Failure is a part of everyone’s life. Don’t dwell on the past, let it go. We learn from our experiences. We all stumble but that just means we’re going forward. When something doesn’t feel right, change your direction. Isaiah 40:31 states, “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 be faint.”

Our time on earth is limited so live each day like it’s your last. Count your blessings and go to sleep with no regrets. Bible scripture encourages us to move forward in our lives, forgetting the past, focusing on the future, trusting in God’s guidance.

“Sometimes we can only find our true direction when we let the wind of change carry us.” — Mimi Novic