Been watering the bannister urns’ flowers and filling the bird feeders and bird baths. It’s hot as all get-out! I’m burning slap up. I’m sweatin’ like a hog. Not a dry thread on me. It’s hotter than Satan’s house cat. I love how we southerns describe a hot day. And it was hot! Left the porch when the real feel temperature hit 99 degrees.

Cooked dinner early before the kitchen got so hot. Someone asked me how I cooked without air conditioning. I replied, “On a stove.” When I went to college the dorm I lived in for the first two years wasn’t air conditioned. Only the bedrooms here in my home have air conditioning. I love the windows open, specially at night when the night critters play their symphonies. We’re all spoiled to the amenities of modern life. We ever have a war on American soil lots of folks will wish they had learned how to grow a garden and how to feed themselves off the land.

The sunset tonight was a palette of Mother Nature’s peach watercolors. The sun, dressed in the blushing pink and burgundy colors of a ripe peach, rolled down the horizon on the arm of Father Sky. As they touched the horizon they blazed up a reddish orange wildfire that reached the high clouds, quickly burning out, painting the surroundings in beautiful pale peach watercolors. Ecclesiastes 1:5 reads, “The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises.” The sunsets give us peace and hope in the coming of a new day.

The beauty of the day’s fading daylight never ceases to thrill me. In my imagination I can see Mother Nature dipping her watercolors brushes in a palette of God’s watercolors. We read in Psalm 19:1, “The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of his hands.” I think of this verse of scripture often as I watch the sun setting. As Father Sky wakes the moon and the stars he reminds them of scripture in Psalm 148:3, “Praise him, sun and moon; praise him, all you shining stars.” Maybe that’s why the night skies are so beautiful with the luminious moon and the twinkling stars. They are glowing with God’s grace.

This morning when I woke, I re-read this quote and was moved by these beautiful words of Ralph Waldow Emerson. He wrote, “This is my wish for you: Comfort on difficult days, smiles when sadness intrudes, rainbows to follow the clouds, laughter to kiss your lips, sunsets to warm your heart, hugs when spirits sag, beauty for your eyes to see, friendships to brighten your being, faith so that you can believe, confidence for when you doubt, courage to know yourself, patience to accept the truth, love to complete your life.” Reads like a heartfelt love letter. What glorious words to inspire and give thoughts to how we live our lives. We should speak these words often to our children when they are young.

William Wordsworth wrote, “Fill your papers with the breathing of your heart.” I think that is a beautifully written quote. I always loved Wordsworth’s poem, I Wandered Lonely as A Cloud. The poem was written after he walked in the woods with his sister and saw a big field of daffodils near a lake. “I wandered lonely as a cloud that floats on high o’er vale’s and hills, When all at once I saw a crowd, a host, of golden daffodils; beside the lake, beneath the trees, fluttering and dancing in the breeze…”

Never thought of a cloud as being lonely but that’s an interesting thought. The clouds look down on Mother Earth as they aimlessly float in the sky, slowly drifting with no direction, changing shapes and changing colors, lonely and thoughtful. They see all. I guess some of us float as clouds through our lives, always looking for the field of daffodils. Sometimes you don’t even have to look the blooms just appear when you need them, dancing and swaying in the wind, symbols of hope and joy. Other times the daffodils are gone and you don’t have the wherewithal to search for them again. I think I’m lucky with my field of daffodils. There always seem to be a bloom close by when I need it and I try to nurture these blooms and keep them close to my heart.

1 Thessalonians 5:18 reads, “Give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” Gratitude plays such an important role in life. When trials and changes come into our every day life our gratitude doesn’t falter. We know unhappy days are just a part of life and we accept that. Gratitude helps us be happy with the life we lead and helps us be thankful for what we have. So many things we should be grateful for and we never worry about them. We just assume the sun will rise and the car will crank.

Research says there are three parts of gratitude — feeling grateful for all the good things in your life; expressing gratitude to the people who have made your life better; and adopting new behaviors after interacting with those who have helped you. I think gratitude is an attitude of appreciation for the gifts God has placed in our daily life. Gratitude involves being thankful. Thankfulness is a temporary emotion and will fade away but gratitude will always stay with us.

Gratitude is a special gift from God to us. When we find it hard to be grateful, we are reminded that everything happens according to God’s will. God already knows the path we’ll travel. God will give us the strength to move whatever obstacles block our path. By being grateful to God we’ll have joy and peace in our lives.

The root of joy is gratefulness… It is not joy that makes us grateful; it is gratitude that makes us joyful.” — David Steindl-Rast