When I woke this morning I glanced out the window and saw a beautiful blue sky canvas and a handsome crimson cardinal sitting on a bamboo limb close to the window. You know I’m going to say it was Chief sitting on the limb. Penelope and I’ve spent the day under my cardinal lap blanket looking at all the Christmas things that still need to be put away, watching Bonanza episodes, enjoying all the birds on the feeders outside the lady den windows.

Saw the most glorious sunset today. I was cooking supper when it started, a warm honey glow coloring the horizon. I was thinking the pageant would be subdued tonight but when I left the stove to look toward the setting sun, I saw the sunset’s streaks of lavender and purple watercolors. The backdrop of sky was pure lavender up to the high clouds where Mother Nature had stroked her watercolor brushes of purple and pink and turquoise across the clouds. Next time I looked out a wash of pale peach was coloring the stage as the sun rolled down the horizon behind the black bare limbs of the old oak trees. The sun quickly crawled under her quilt of peach clouds and told Father Sky goodnight as she turned off the day’s light.

Father Sky, buttoning up his black wool peacoat with its fur lined hood, walked across the navy sky to wake the moon and stars from their slumbers. Putting on his tweed wool mittens, he hung the waning crescent milky white moon high on the night’s stage and chunked handfuls of stars up in the darkness to gleam and glitter like blushing diamonds on the velvet black sky. Night officially began as Father Sky and Mother Nature warmed their toes by solar flares.

Been reading some different books of quotes tonight. This quote always makes me laugh. “Some days you’re the windshield some days you’re the bug,” Dire Straits. And I am always the bug! Life has its ups and downs. Life is so unpredictable and so beautiful. Scripture in Ecclesiastes 9:11 tells us of life’s unpredictability. “The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the skillful, but time and chance happen to them all.” We all walk with God each day and we need to seek his divine guidance to send us down the correct path. Proverbs 3:5-6 instructs us to “trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.” Walking through life with faith is so much easier than stumbling on paths of temptation full of rocks and roadblocks. God always clears the way and reaches out to help us when we stumble off the path. He doesn’t ask us why we step off the Christian pathway, he just patiently waits for our prayers and gives us his hand to guide us back.

Grandma Kelly’s quote, “Play the tiles you get,” reminded me of my family’s love of playing Scrabble. The more I sat and thought about playing Scrabble I realized life can be a Scrabble board. “Play the tiles you are given” is good advice, but sometimes hard to do with life being full of challenges. Life gives us random letters and we arrange these tiles to create our life’s stories. We’re all dealt different life experiences, relationships, different talents and skills that we put together to form our life. When life drops a square tile we can’t play, we become discouraged and distracted, wondering pessimistically how on earth can we make a word with what life just dealt us.

Life is not promised to be an easy path to walk. We’re challenged every day by the cycle of life’s normal ups and downs. Change is a part of life, too. How we face these Scrabble letters, that are hard to play, figures into our happiness. We can accept these roadblocks and learn from them or moan about them and be miserable. Prayer helps us accept our life’s challenges and be content on the path we’ve found ourselves walking. Let the worries of life’s Scrabble game rest in the hands of God. He will lay down the correct letters and spell the right words.

“Life is not a book, it is merely Scrabble.” — Sylversong