The sky was a melted vanilla, the day cool and damp. I think Mother Nature flung some of her watercolors in shades of gray and purple and blue on Father Sky’s overcast sky canvas. I could pick out the watercolors when I studied the sky. I’m missing Father Sky kissing the sun goodnight at dusk, missing the pageantry of his hanging the stars and moon. Just went outside and there are no jewels in the sky. Everyone is hunkered down under their overcast cloud covers.

The sunset gives me inspiration and I’ve missed viewing it on the last few cloudy days. I’ve been decorating the house this afternoon, wondering about the sunset pageant taking place behind the curtains of clouds. I bet Father Sky dressed in an elf costume today, the jingle bells on his pointed green shoes making happy music as he and the sun ran down the horizon. I can see the sun in a red velvet miniskirt trimmed with white fur, her red sequined high heels clicking in sequence with Father Sky’s jingle bells. I wonder if she wore fishnet stockings.

I have been sweeping up broken Christmas balls and Christmas decorations strewn all over the house. Don’t know how we decorated a large cedar tree when we were children without breaking all the glass balls. I think I broke four balls yesterday and five balls today. Sounds like a bomb when the glass balls shatter on the wood floor but oh so pretty on the tree.

I think we can compare ourselves to glass Christmas tree ornaments. We’re all beautiful but we have to risk exposing ourselves by clinging on a branch of the tree of life. Some of us enjoy a long life, others like my daughter are broken just as they start blooming on their branch. I think we better anchor ourselves on the branch with God’s love and grace. We lose our faith, we’re gonna fall and shatter when the storm winds blow.

Love this quote by Henry Van Dyke. “Use what talent you possess: the woods would be very silent if no birds sang there except those that sang best.” Never thought about that but some birds do have awkward songs and loud noisy tweets. But together with other birds they sing a beautiful Christmas cantata. We all have different talents. God has given us special gifts and abilities and he wants us to use these gifts to serve him and others. The Bible says, “In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well.” Doesn’t’ matter if we’re not the soloist in the band or the choir. The instruments and back up singers are a vital part of life’s symphony. 1 Peter 4:10 reads, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace.”

All our talents are different but each one serves a special purpose. We need to look for opportunities to serve God and use our talents in our daily lives. I think we all have a purpose in life. But the purpose is not to be happy but to live and be useful to society, to be compassionate and kind to our fellow man, to show others the way to God. We are all part of God’s family. Ephesians 2:19 says, “You and I have been adopted into God’s family and have become God’s children.”

Regardless of our circumstances in our lives we are all members of God’s household. Scripture says God put children in our families so that they can experience God’s love and we can teach them how to love. I’ve always believed children were a blessing from God. We care for our children physically and emotionally. And we need to also care for our children’s spiritual life and teach them to go to God in prayer and thanksgiving. Teach them to have a generous heart, to be compassionate and kind. Teach them to see the glory of the sunset and the beauty in a rainy day.

“At the end of your life, you will never regret not having passed one more test, not winning one more verdict, or not closing one more deal. You will regret time not spent with a husband, a friend, a child, a parent.”— Barbara Bush