Sat in the swing today and gazed on Father Sky’s melted vanilla sky canvas counting all the colors I could pick out — cigar smoke gray, pale purple, baby blue, charcoal, silver — all gathered together to hide the sun’s shine. I looked in Father Sky’s box of pastels he used to color the clouds and their names are so pretty — sacred spring, thunderstorm, beryl pearl, and silent sea. He is as talented with his pastels as Mother Nature with her watercolor brushes.

Been thinking about prayer this afternoon. “Prayer is how we press our hands into the invisible and find the hand of Christ reaching back,” James K. A. I love the imagery in that quote. I was walking Penelope this morning thinking of prayer and thanking God for the beautiful overcast sky and the flocks of songbirds in my yard. “Prayer is not an old woman’s idle amusement. Properly understood and applied, it is the most potent instrument of which the human soul can possess,” World Network of Prayer.

George Herbert writes, “Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.” I hope y’all reading my blogs have faith in prayer. Prayer is strong and when we pray with others we create a powerful supportive group. Prayer offers us comfort, strength, and hope. Prayer helps us build an intimate relationship with God as we share our hearts with him. Regular heartfelt prayer brings a sense of peace as we place our fears and worries into God’s loving hands. I love to read prayers and after searching for a while through my blog archives I found a prayer I wrote last year. Don’t think I could write another one expressing myself better. Here is my prayer.

Dear Lord, Thank you for breath this day and thank you for opening my eyes to another glorious morning. Thank you for the three V-formations of geese that flew overhead last night into the gloriously watercolored dusk of the setting sun, their undulating wings and honking reminding me of God’s love in tending to his creatures, both large and small. Thank you for ears to hear the musical symphonies of the colorful little songbirds, the “I love yous” from my grandchildren. And thank you for my health and the health of my family and friends.

“Prayer should be the key of the day and the lock of the night.”— George Herbert

Thank you for eyes to feast on the yellow and purple pansy blooms and the tiny pink and blue wildflowers. Thank you for the love from a small faithful dog and a thin stray cat, now piggy fat, who found her way to join our family. Thank you, God, for my porch swings which have become my church pews in the cathedral of my yard. Thank you for the warm sunshine that kisses my cheeks and warms my bare feet as I worship from my swing pew this morning.

Thank you, Lord, for the stately water oaks and majestic magnolias on my street, giving the yard critters shelter and homes, sending me pirouetting yellow leaves in the fall, fragrant white blooms in the summer. Thank you for the cool breezes, ruffling my hair like a soft touch of your hands, producing wind chime tintinnabulations, creating comical whirlwinds of brown leaves that race down the street waking Penelope from her nap.

Thank you for the late afternoon lonely wails of the freight train engines reminding me of glorious days gone by from the railroads’ clicks and clacks near my home in Alexander City, awakening my heart with loneliness for my Chief. Thank you for this 106-year-old family home where I live with happy memories of three generations of my family who have shared this house. And thank you, Lord, for the magnificent watercolor painting of the sunset tonight and the velvet purple night sky with its twinkling stars and luminous moon.

Thank you for my simple pleasures of peanut butter and crackers with a Mason jar of sweet tea. Thank you God for small town life where the sidewalks are walked, the traffic is slow, and life is easily lived. Thank you for my family and friends, thoughtful and loving. Thank you, Lord, for my blogging friends and the words we share as we find our friendships. And thank you for giving me the gift of writing words that can touch someone’s heart.

In God’s name I pray. Amen.

“Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life.” — Jonathan Edwards