From my archives, new thoughts tomorrow…

Today was a beautiful day but too chilly for porch pondering. I was walking Penelope on her first walk and stopped long enough to really study the sky. Father Sky had picked up some different colored pastels today and swiped them across his sky canvas. I think he’s been studying watercolor painting with Mother Nature. Sitting on top of the horizon was a thin pale pastel stroke of aquamarine, darkening to a deeper shade of cerulean blue where it touched the skyline. Resting on top of the turquoise were layers of cobalt shades and layers of peacock blue that fanned out into a glorious dark azure blue sky. Only a few wisps of pale white clouds floated near the horizon. The azure blue sky canvas was blemished with four large buzzards, sun bathing and wind surfing, riding on the cool wind current and winding up a corkscrew in the sky.

Oldest brother came over mid-day and we thought about sitting on the porch but he quickly said, “Too cold for me,” so off to the lady den we went and watched the birds on the feeders outside the windows. He told me he got up early and turned on the porch light and a big fat opossum was sitting on his platform bird feeder, chowing down happily, having an early breakfast. I didn’t ask him but I bet that possum met its maker after his sunrise breakfast. I haven’t had any more raccoons. I hope the three that went to the farm are enjoying the forest and have forgotten about their suburban living. Only the squirrels are snitching seeds in my yard but a little Pam or peppermint oil on the poles and they stay away.

Today was such a wondrous sunset. I’ve never seen the colors that Mother Nature brush stroked across the sky, so gloriously created and so swiftly gone. I got my camera out and Penelope jerked the leash and when I turned around the glorious spectacle was gone. At my first glance the horizon’s sky was bathed in light brush strokes of watermelon, pale purple, lilac, and deep mauve, a beautiful layer of brush strokes that brought the twilight alive. The sun rolled down the horizon dressed in a luxurious gown of shimmering orange chiffon. The train of her gown brushed the lingering clouds and colored them in pale orange and yellow shades. I watched a small group of cotton ball clouds, watercolored on their bellies a pale huckleberry purple, push the orange clouds away and gather like a school of little purple fish ready to swim across the evening’s sky canvas. I had carried a few clouds of worry with me on this walk with Penelope but the quick but magnificent sunset pushed those worries off my shoulders into God’s hands.

Read lots of quotes today but never found one that really spoke to me till I sat down tonight and read again all the quotes I had highlighted today. Love this quote, “Paradise on earth is where I am,” Voltaire. This quote reminds me to be thankful for life, as it is now, and for my many blessings. Guess I’m really lucky I feel I’m in paradise here in my family home, pondering in my porch swing, sitting on a black and white polka dot cushion, warm sunshine blushing my cheeks, bird songs and wind chime pings filling the air. Drop Chief down in the double rocking chair beside the swing and I’d have our paradise on earth. Don’t think I appreciated all the porch pondering days we shared. Never thought they would end so quickly. I know now sharing porch sitting and swing pondering together was a glorious happiness. I took those happy days for granted.

Paradise is defined as a place or state of bliss, felicity, or delight. Paradise on earth is defined as a place of perfect beauty and happiness existing on earth as opposed to in heaven. Sometimes we look for paradise with such a driving force that we don’t realize we are living in paradise here on planet earth. Our paradise is all around us. We just can’t relax our search long enough to realize paradise is here surrounded by our loved ones. It’s kinda a harsh statement but if you wake up with breath, thank God for another day in paradise. We’re not guaranteed a tomorrow.

“Life moves forward. If you keep looking back, you won’t be able to see where you’re going,” Charles Carroll. When tragedy invades our lives, life just keeps moving along, the sun keeps rising, the world keeps turning on her axis while we’re wondering how can life move on when our life is at a tragical standstill. It’s so hard not to look back, to focus on tomorrow, and where our path is leading now. We have to train ourselves to place one foot in front of the other and start walking down our new path. After stumbling down the path for a while, the walk will get easier and we’ll begin to feel the sun’s warmth on our path.

Isaiah 41:13 says, “For I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” God will always point us in the correct direction when our life is at a crossroads. “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths,” Proverbs 3:5-6. Praying and giving our worries over to God’s grace will help push us in the right direction and help us walk a Godly path through life.

“The mind is its own place and in itself can make a heaven of hell, a hell of heaven.” — John Milton