So beautiful watching the day wake up and come alive in bird songs and sunshine. God and Mother Nature conspired to make a perfect day. It’s too cool for much porch pondering but I sat in the lady den and watched out the windows while the squirrels, cardinals, goldfinches and chickadees enjoyed the sunflower seeds. Came across a quote today that I love. “Let the clouds be your pillow and the sky be your blanket,” Anonymous. I’d love to lay my head down on a bleached white fluffy sun kissed cloud and cover up under a wondrous blue sky blanket or maybe ride out a thunderstorm snuggled under the purplish dark blue blanket of a spring storm sky.

“Behold, my friends, the spring is come; the earth has gladly received the embraces of the sun and we shall soon see the results of their love.” Sitting Bull. What a beautiful quote! The earth and the sun embracing and creating spring. I think Mother Nature turned her clock back a month instead of springing forward when the time changed. These cold nights and snow flurries and blowing winds are something. And a freeze warning tonight.

Old North Wind has been stomping across the heavens, blowing the old magnolia leaves down the street with the clambering sounds of an old homeless hobo’s unlaced work boots. The songbirds are filling their little stomachs with sunflower seeds as they sing prayers of thanks for this cool clear day. My pansies fainted when the dirt froze in the urns but as the sun warmed the earth they bravely stood back up. I just wonder if the butterflies I saw last week have died. Hope they hid under the bark of the old oak tree and will live again to dance in the spring sunshine. Guess Bertha, my gas steam boiler, will gulp down gas another night. I’ll be glad when those winter gas bills are gone.

As I watched the evening sky, the day sighed softly and twilight tiptoed across the landscape. I love the shadows of the leafless trees at dusk but they are slowly dressing back up in their spring leaves. Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote, “Softly the evening came into the sunset.” His quote describes today’s sunset pageant. The sun, dressed in her golden rays, quietly walked down the horizon on the arm of Father Sky and when the couple stepped on the edge of the pageant stage, a watermelon wildfire blazed across the skyline. Once the sun was down and the day’s gloaming began, Mother Nature poured pink champagne from a crystal champagne flute all across the horizon casting a beautiful pale pink glow as the twilight wafted across the landscape.

As the sun turned out the day’s light, Father Sky kissed her goodnight and threw a handful of twinkling stars up in the heavens to light the black velvet sky. Another day has bedded down and another night has awakened. I love the colors and shadows of the magical hours of twilight. Lucy Maud Montgomery captures twilight perfectly. “Twilight drops her curtain down, and pins it with a star.” I love the imagery in this quote imagining a gorgeous curtain of Mother Nature’s sunset watercolors caught up with diamond star pins.

Read lots of quotes today scribbling a page full of them down. Hope I can read them later. Several stuck a cord in me. “Life can be a tightrope or a feather mattress.” That quote defines life so accurately. As we mature we make decisions that affect ourselves and ultimately our families. Sometimes we’re walking across a tightrope in life hoping we don’t fall off into eternity. We grasp for straws when we should be grasping for strength from God. Some of us only pray when we’re on the tightrope and then worry if our prayers will be heard. Praying is just like talking. Doesn’t take much when we lay our heads down at night to thank God for the day and its blessings. Want to land more often on that feather mattress when you fall off the tightrope? Pray and accept God’s answers. “Whenever I am afraid, I will trust in You.” Psalm 56:3. God will always catch you when you fall.

Another quote I pondered on — “Without suffering, there is no happiness,” Thich Nhat Hanh. We all know life is not a bed of roses and we’re not promised that hardships won’t be a part of our life’s travels. James 1:12 says, “Blessed is the man who remains steadfast under trial, for when he has stood the test he will receive the crown of life, which God has promised to those who love.” Hardships help us grow and help us appreciate the blessings in our lives. Suffering through hard times teaches us to see life is worth living. The presence of happiness and the presence of suffering help us go forward in the direction of enjoying life. Happiness and fulfillment come from overcoming the hard times. We need to embrace the hard times and learn from them. We need to be content with what we have and with the circumstances of our lives.

Psalm 37:4 reads, “Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” True happiness is not about riches or wealth. True happiness is a state of mind, a feeling in our hearts of fulfillment and inner peace. It’s the feeling of truly enjoying life, finding fulfillment in the experiences of living, a desire to make the best of each day. “Enjoy the little things in life, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things,” Robert Breault.

“Life is to be enjoyed, not simply endured. Pleasure and goodness and joy support the pursuit of survival.” —Willard Gaylin