Radhanath Swani writes, “Mother Nature is always speaking. She speaks in a language understood within the peaceful mind of the sincere observer.” Today I observed Mother Nature’s watercolor brushes darken the clouds in blues and grays and purples as she filled the clouds’ bellies with beautiful silver raindrops. The rain fell in soft showers and poured in angry heavy downpours. When I walked Penelope after lunch the rain was just a sprinkle and when we passed the old water oak the raindrops grew heavy and slammed down through the oak’s green leaves. Penelope ran for the porch dragging me hobbling behind. The earth in my neighborhood has missed the rain lately but last night and today we were blessed with rain. I bet my little squash will be ready to pick tomorrow and I bet the grass in my zinnia bed will have grown taller than the zinnias. It’s such a mystery to me how the rain fertilizes the earth. Maybe the rain is Mother Nature’s Miracle Grow.

In the Bible we read of rain as a symbol of God blessings and provision. “The Lord will open to you his good treasury, the heavens, to give the rain to your land in its season and to bless all the work of your hands,” Deuteronomy 28:12. I love Langston Hughes’ quote about the rain and I know I’ve written his words many times. “Let the rain kiss you. Let the rain beat upon your head with silver liquid drops. Let the rain sing you a lullaby.” I’m missing the rain’s musical lullabies because I’ve shut my windows and turned on the window air conditioner. Rainy days make me wish for a tin roof.

Reading this afternoon I came across Barry Cornwall’s poem, The Night. I loved the first and last stanzas. “Oh, the summer night has a smile of light, and she sits on an sapphire throne; whilst the sweet winds load her with garlands of odor, from the bud to the rose o’er-blown…. Oh, the night brings sleep to the green woods deep; to the bird of the woods its nest; to care soft hours; to life new powers; to the sick and the weary, — Rest!” He writes a beautiful poem about the nights of the four seasons. I think I like his description of the nights of summer best. I love sitting on the porch as twilight rides the sun’s coattail down the horizon and quietly introduces the darkness to the night world. The smiles of daylight turn to the calm sighs of night and the birds roost with their heads tucked contentedly into their wings.

I think the summer night has a light with the milky moon and the twinkling stars. She gazes at the sapphire canvas of night waiting for the sunrise to wake the day. But the twilight, that obscure time of day immediately following sunset or immediately before sunrise, is mysterious in its shadowy quiet beauty. In Genesis 1:14-16 we read that God created two lights, “The greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night.” As the light changes from day to night and night to day we have the magical time of twilight that hovers gently over the landscape.

Was straightening a basket of children’s books in my lady den and I picked up Dr. Seuss’ book, Oh, the Places You’ll Go. Dr. Suess wrote, “You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself any direction you choose.” I’m thinking that might be a good quote from God. We can steer ourselves in any direction but if we let God guide the way the journey is full of blessings and opportunities. Even when the road is rocky, we’ll have a sense of peace as we trust God to show us the way, lighting the path when its too dark to travel, catching us when we stumble over the rough places. God will give us a purpose to our life’s travel.

Sometimes God leads us to doors we might have missed if we traveled alone. It’s scary when our path leads us in an unexpected direction but our faith gives us strength to open the door and with God’s grace we realize we are right where we need to be. 2 Corinthians 5:7 states, “For we walk by faith, not by sight.” We have to trust God’s promises when we walk with him. Walking a Christian path takes courage and fortitude in today’s world. We have to be brave and push on when we know God’s plan, not get distracted by the tilt of the earth’s distractions and temptations.

We walk with God by living a life that follows his scriptures, trusting in his promises even though we don’t know the outcome. Proverbs 3:6-6 reads, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight.” I don’t know why it can be so hard to walk a Godly path. We’re going straight, then we step off the path, struggling to get back on our journey with God. He’s always there to help us stand up. He dusts us off when we stumble and fall and always forgives us for straying down the wrong paths.

John 8:12 states, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” We walk with God, we never walk alone. Psalm 48:14 states, “For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” We all need to step on God’s path and start walking. God will guide us through life with his holy light.

“If you walk and talk with God, you will never miss the direction to your divine future. Be bold and offer your heart to be led by God.” — Israelmore Ayivor