“Love comforteth like sunshine after rain,” William Shakespeare. When the sun finally pierced the gray overcast sky with her rays this morning, my petunias shrugged off their coats of rain and raised their heads in prayer, thanking God for silver raindrops and for the sun’s warm rays. “If we talk to God in the morning before we talk to anyone else we will be a lot easier to get along with,” Joyce Meyer. I like that quote. Morning prayers are a great way to start the day. Just a thank you for breath and the beautiful day can help with the day’s challenges.

I’m enjoying watching the rose breasted grosbeaks this morning, their crisp black and white wings, their snow white breasts, their deep red kerchiefs around their necks, such handsome birds. The eastern bluebirds crossed the street and had a tea party on the bird baths and feeders in my yard this afternoon. These beautiful songbirds, the males painted with God’s watercolors in royal blues and warm red-browns, have never visited my yard in the five years I’ve lived here, always at home in the old oaks and magnolias across the street. The female bluebirds are dressed demurely in velvet grayish-blues, their wings and tails highlighted in royal blues. Mr. and Mrs. Downy Woodpecker are back enjoying the suet feeders, hanging upside down on the feeders as they feast. Mr. Downy has his little red cap on. The downies are the smallest woodpeckers in North America.

Alfred Austin wrote, “The glory of gardening: hands in the dirt, head in the sun, heart with nature. To nurture a garden is to feed not just the body, but the soul.” I checked on my garden plants one more time before the day got dark. They’ve really grown since yesterday, more little green heads poking up through the pine straw. I swear my zinnias had grown a little every time I checked on them today. The rain’s nitrogen was liquid fertilize to the soil and the plant’s leaves. Anyone who grows things knows a garden teaches patience as we check the plants each day. We water the plants and we fertilize them. We watch for weeds and we pull them. We look forward to the fresh vegetables, so proud when it’s harvest time. I was walking back to the porch thinking how our life is like a garden and how patient and proud God must be as he watches us grow and bloom in our faith. The beauty of the earth is a manifestation of God’s power.

The porch got cool at dusk so I retreated to my lady den as the sun set behind a curtain of gray clouds. As I picked up a book of quotes I read these words from Mother Teresa, “We need to find God, and he cannot be found in noise and restlessness. God is the friend of silence. See how nature — trees, flowers, grass — grows in silence; see the stars, the moon and the sun, how they move in silence … We need silence to be able to touch souls.” Try to remember the last time you sat in silence in this loud fast spinning world. I love quiet mornings spent perched in the porch swing, the bird symphonies and the soft touch of God in the sun’s warmth. You can feel a divine presence in the quietness of the day.

Read in several books of quotes today searching for inspiration while I pondered in the swing and I stumbled across an article on the things God wants us to do. Number Six was “live your life with thankfulness, not complaining.” That is wonderful advice and a great thought to try and live by. If we begin our day thanking God for all our blessings instead of complaining about things we don’t have, our attitude for the day begins on a positive note. We start the day with a happy frame of mind and we notice a difference in how our day passes. We can start the day with sunshine or clouds. It’s our choice.

I think the main thing God wants us to do is believe in Jesus and love him. Acts 16:13 says, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved — you and your household.” If we live a Christian life our words and actions will bring others into the kingdom of heaven. And God wants us to read and study his word in the Bible. Reading the Bible helps us gain wisdom and guidance on living, the scriptures teaching us how to live a Christian life. We also need to make prayers a priority. God wants us to come to him in prayers, on blended knee when life is hard to travel. When life is full of glorious joy God wants us to give thanks for our blessings. 1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “Rejoice at all times. Pray without ceasing. Give thanks in every circumstance, for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.”

God also wants us to love each other and treat each other with kindness and compassion. 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 is such a beautiful expression of love — “Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” Let’s spread these beautiful words around the world.

“In the silence of the heart God speaks. If you face God in prayer and silence, God will speak to you.” — St. Teresa of Calcutta