Today was so pretty, blue sky, white fluffy clouds but the March winds did blow, all day. I love to hear the wind pushing through the large magnolias on our street, the rushing of the leaves and branches bending with the stiff breeze dropping old brown leaves that chase each other down the street, slapping themselves on the concrete, playing chase in the March zephyr. The March breezes are softly pinging the wind chimes, ruffling the cardinal’s crests, pushing the catkins from the old oaks limbs.

I am so enamored with the songbirds this time of year. I look at the songbirds as jewels decorating my yard, small feathered creatures that inspire me with their beauty and their songs of praise. They give me hope. Lots of the songbirds are dressing up in their new spring plumage, singing for their mates, performing their love dances. The male American goldfinches have donned their Crayola yellow sport coats fashioned with jet black wing and tail feathers, so handsome perched on the feeders, their female mates just as beautifully dressed in their Easter frocks of pale yellow and olive with shining black and white wing feathers. The male cardinals have never been more handsome in their dark crimson robes, their partners modestly dressed in their frocks of fawn brown, their wing feathers highlighted in red and orange, their little Easter bonnet crests trimmed in red. My yard is full of these birds at twilight. When the male cardinals and male goldfinches sit on the feeders together its a crayon box of color. Makes my heart smile ‘cause I know Chief sends the birds to warm my heart when I’m missing him.

Birds in biblical scripture are symbols of new beginnings, hope, and freedom. They also serve as signs of intelligence, courage, and strength. The dove is used to symbolize the spirit of God. A dove brought back an olive branch to Noah symbolizing the peace between God and man. God cares for the birds as he cares for us. Matthew 6:26 reads, “Look at the birds of the air, for they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns; yet your Heavenly Father feeds them.”

Reading this afternoon, I came across a long poem by Carol Adams titled A Prayer for the Birds, beautifully written. The first four lines of the poem compose a beautiful short prayer when read alone. “God of all feathered beings. Thank you for the birds. Thank you for their early morning songs. I, too, lift a song to heaven when morning breaks.” Such a pretty prayer and now one of my favorites.

I was faithful to Mother Nature this afternoon, sitting in the swing after supper watching for the pageant of sunset hidden by a thick layer of dull white cloud curtains. In my imagination, I saw the sun dressed in a formal strapless gown of sequined sunshine yellow, long white gloves on her slender arms, stepping on the stage proudly, her hand on the arm of the handsome Father Sky. As Father Sky walked the sun down the horizon a wash of pale peach flooded across the skyline and melted into the aqua and pale huckleberry of the high clouds. The sun dropped off the horizon as the blue colors of twilight raced across the neighborhood. Father Sky kissed the sun goodnight and stepped from the twilight into the inky dark of the nighttime sky. He pulled the moon and stars from their cozy cloud covers and placed them on the stage of darkness to illuminate the world’s dreams. The moon was a luminous beacon of light in the black abyss of the sky, the stars a tapestry of twinkling diamonds. Night has awakened gloriously as the day goes to sleep sublimely.

I came across A Sailor’s Prayer in my reading late afternoon. “May the seas lie smooth before you. May a gentle breeze forever fill your sails. May sunshine warm your face, and kindness warm your soul.” I love the words, “may kindness warm your soul.” I really think the world is void of kindness now. The seas of our lives are not always smooth and calm. Our journeys are filled with broken hearts, changes and challenges, all things we experience that make us human beings. How we react to the rough currents as we sail through life determines the rest of our life’s journey. As we learn how to sail our ship through life, we’ll overcome the rough waters and experience joy as we learn to navigate life through our faith in a loving God.

Jimmy Dean writes, “I can’t change the direction of the wind, but I can adjust my sails to always reach my destination.” When we follow Jesus’s teachings, our life’s destination to the pearly gates of heaven is a life long commitment. We get blown off the path of Christianity when the storm winds of temptation blow. We can’t change the direction the wind is blowing but we can change our mindset and through prayers and thanksgiving we can trim our sails and adjust our course to get back on our journey to God and his kingdom of heaven. As Billy Graham said, “My home is in heaven. I’m just passing through this world.”

“Heaven doesn’t make this life less important; it makes it more important.” — Billy Graham