The porch is so pleasant this morning. A glorious breeze is pinging the wind chimes and ruffling the petunias. The large bumblebees, fat and sassy, are buzzing around the petunias bending the blooms down as they forage inside for nectar and pollen. This morning is perfectly beautiful. I use that word too much but there’s just not another word. Maybe I should write the morning was splendid with an arctic blue sky and soft white clouds stretched across the horizon. The sun was shining on the neighborhood’s freshly cut lawns making them sparkle with dew drops and the birds were flitting around singing and arguing.

Father Sky has sketched a blue sky canvas full of white fluffy clouds. The sun is hot, wilting the cucumbers growing up the trellis. A severe thunderstorm is headed our way so I gather my swing cushions and come inside before the sky darkens. We have really had the rain lately and the afternoon heat fires up the thunderstorms. I sat in my reading chair and watched the bamboo dance the cha cha in the storm winds. Penelope napped under the bed as the storm briefly raged. She hates thunder.

A handsome little grayish-brown butterfly visited me sitting briefly on the swing this morning. He was dressed with faint white stripes on his wings and the ends of his wings were highlighted with orange and blue dots. Red spots near his two short tails completed his dancing costume. Had to get my butterfly guide to identify him. He’s a striped hairstreak, a gossamer-winged butterfly with an interesting name. Seven species of hairstreak butterflies live in North America. I’m going to be watching for the juniper hairstreak and the eastern tailed-blue, both butterflies beautifully painted by God’s watercolor brushes. My zinnias started blooming today so the butterflies will soon be tap dancing on their colorful stages. I’m going to study the butterflies this summer and learn to identify them. I’m going to craft some butterfly houses that have the little feeder bowls, too.

I was pondering today on how I could have a child 44 years old. My oldest son’s birthday is today. I remember the day he was born. Chief was just delighted to have a son. Thomas was an easy delivery and an easy child. He’s grown up to be a kind, compassionate, generous man. He’s a loving husband and father, dedicated to his family, very proud of his three children. He is every bit the Southern gentleman his father was. As a child he could entertain himself with a bushel basket full of wooden blocks. He loved to collect dinosaurs, loved to play with Legos. He’d build the Lego set box design then he’d tear it up and make something of his own creation, already an engineer as a child. He’s got his daddy’s smarts and my common sense. Not much he can’t do if he sets his mind to it. He’s a pretty good seamstress, too. Had to sew the butt of his pants together once at work. Happy birthday, Lumpy!

I walked Penelope right as darkness blanketed my yard. Knew Mother Nature was painting behind closed doors tonight but as I glanced up I saw brush strokes of hot pink watercolors quickly wash across the heavens. Another glance up and the painting was gone. “At every sunset, the sky is a different shade. No cloud is ever in the same place. Each day is a new masterpiece. A new wonder. A new memory,” Sanibel Khan. Those words are a poetic way to describe a sunset and to describe our lives.

Every day is different from the day before and today is different from the day tomorrow. We draw our world in the colors of our experiences. Allen Klein writes, “Our attitudes are the crayons that color our world.” We experience new wonders and we make new memories. Life has its sunsets with challenges and changes that cloud our horizon with dark shadows. We can give into the darkness or use our faith to pray and bring sunlight back into the darkness. Psalm 18:28 reads, “You, Lord, keep my lamp burning; my God turns my darkness into light.”

Walking through the darkness, praying for the light, molds our faith. We trust God to give us light or to hold our hand and walk with us through the dark times. Isaiah 41:13 states, “I am the Lord your God who takes hold of your right hand and says to you, Do not fear; I will help you.” We discover our inner strength when we deal with life’s difficulties. The colors in the sunset symbolize our emotions and we can look to the sun as a golden glow of hope and acceptance. We need to learn to navigate life’s challenges with grace. We can inspire others with our sunsets of acceptance and show there is the promise of a brighter tomorrow once the storm has passed.

“The sky has a way of speaking to the soul. It offers calm in the midst of chaos, hope in the midst of despair, and light in the darkness of life,” Mia Kirshner. Sunsets are beautiful endings to the day and promises of a new day. Each new morning we can let go of the past and start fresh, embracing new possibilities. Psalm 113:3 reads “From the rising of the sun to the place where it sets, the name of the Lord is to be praised.” Every day the sun rises and every day the sun sets. We can count on that just like we can count on God’s grace and God’s love. God is always faithful. Psalm 117:2 reads, “His merciful kindness is great toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever.”

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.” — Rabindranath Tagore