Beautiful cerulean blue sky this morning, clear and cloudless. One streak of a pale thin white cloud is slowly fading. I think Father Sky got distracted when he was beginning to sketch the clouds. I’m watching the buzzards’ shadows as they float like kites across my yard and the brick wall across the street. The wind has rolled a large sycamore leaf end over end loudly down the street and a little whirlwind has the brown oak leaves dancing in a circle behind.

I was thinking this morning as I walked out on the porch that heaven is like a large front porch, welcoming and comfortable, a place where we gather with family as we enter heaven. To me a porch just conveys a sense of home. We gather on our porches greeting each other just as we’ll have joyful reunions at the gates of heaven. Four generations of my family have enjoyed this porch. My family have all lulled our babies and grandbabies to sleep in the swings here, stolen kisses in the dark, caught toddlers by the seat of their diaper when they toddled over to the steps, been eaten alive by mosquitoes, played cowboys and Indians with cap guns, had water gun battles as we swung. My front porch has now become my sanctuary. I’m so looking forward to the porch pondering days of spring and summer. I ate my breakfast, lunch, and dinner perched in the porch swing today. I can feel spring is sprouting.

The freight train has been by several times today but its whistle is most glorious at twilight. Just as the day is dimming the echoing of the whistle is either eerily beautiful or profoundly sad.

At sunset Mother Nature dipped her watercolor brushes in shrimp pink and pale turquoise, stroking the layers of sunset softly with color. The sun rolled down the horizon in a sterling silver gown, her prism rays forming a halo around her head. Father Sky, dressed in his grey linen suit, caught the arm of the sun and escorted her down the sunset steps. As he kissed the sun goodnight the day’s light was dimmed as dusk rushed across the landscape pulling the night’s darkness down like a window shade. Father Sky rushed to wake the waxing gibbous moon and hang the twinkling stars in the night sky. Day has ended and night has begun.

March is a hard month for me. The anniversary of our daughter’s death, Chief’s 91st birthday, our 45th wedding anniversary. I’ve had the doldrums today and I wept in the swing this morning wondering how the world could be so beautiful without my daughter and my Chief. But life goes on and the world keeps turning on its axis. I came across this quote in my reading, “I could only be grateful when I realized that I would rather have known you for a moment than never at all. I would rather endure this inexplicable pain of outliving you than to have never seen your face, spoken your name. I would rather be yours, you be mine, regardless. Regardless of, the sleepless nights, and the years I will walk this earth, carrying you in my heart,” Lexi Berhndt. I love those words.

Funny how a simple friendship can transform the day. I got the nicest surprise from a dear friend in the mail today, a book titled Prayers for a Widow’s Heart. I love it and read half of it sitting in the swing this afternoon. The gift brought the sunshine brightly back into my day. Was just thinking, if you have friends you’re never really alone. Friends support us, have our backs in good times and bad times. We share our intimate moments with those who know us best. When something unexpected or troubling happens close friends help us weather these storms. A little kindness and understanding from a dear friend with no judgement call can bring sunshine on a cloudy day. Because of our friends, we laugh little harder, cry a little less, and smile a lot more. This reads like I’m describing God as a friend.

I think we are friends with God. We have a friendship with God as we obey his commandments with love and faith. We have a personal relationship with God through our prayers. Jesus refers to his followers as “friends” in scripture. In John 15:15, Jesus says “No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” We trust and confide in God. Sharing our words and thoughts in prayer and thanksgiving brings us closer to God, helping us form a close personal relationship. God desires our fellowship and cares for us like our friends. Jared Wilson describes a friendship with Jesus perfectly. “There is no friend closer than Jesus. As we follow him, he never strides too far ahead. He never dodges or ditches us. If we are weary, he slows. If we pull up lame, he stops. If we wander, he circles back. He won’t let us be lost.”

We are never alone when we have God as a confidant.

“True worship is when a person, through their person, attains intimacy and friendship with God.” ― William Temple