This Soft Day – The Morning Show

A soft breeze wafts across the back deck on this the fourth day before Christmas; it carries on its back a warmth reminiscent of late Spring, maybe early April.   Morning visits today with a washed out Carolina blue sky; dingy clouds hang haphazardly and the sun provides melted butter light.  The twenty five year old sesanqua tree droops just a bit from all the heavy old lady dusty pink buds wrapped in florist tape green leaves.  The faded lavender flowers on the fragrant rosemary bush dip their heads in hello to the gift of this great day. The birds in the bushes and the trees greet their neighbors as they go about the business of getting their breakfast.  The left behind Autumn leaves talk to each other in hushed voices, some from the trees and some from the ground, their voices blending, rising, falling, sussing like the sunrise tide of  a mid-summer’s day.  The sheer white curtain breathes in and out, in and out, as the tepid December breeze slips over the winter-dusty window sill of the open bedroom window.   The day waltzes in joy.

FUNNY THINGS.......

Got my funny bone tickled today….Someone put a big Frosty the Snowman plastic figure right smack dab in the middle of a little plot of land off to the side of a busy intersection where the peddlers sell their junk on the weekends. Frosty had this goofy grin on his face and seeing him, as I rounded the corner to approach the intersection, made me laugh out loud.

I’m grateful today for funny, random things.

BEAUTIFUL THINGS

12/19/13:

I was down in the dumps this morning, fretting about not being able to buy anyone any Christmas presents and stressing over how I was going to make my last $3.48 (my bank balance and the sum total of all the money I have in the world) last until payday – the day after Christmas. My stomach was knotting up in fear over how I was going to pay my bills which are due before Christmas. I was dreading going to work because that used gas that I couldn’t afford to refill before payday but not going to work meant not getting a payday so I could buy more gas……it’s been a vicious cycle here lately.

Anyway, I got myself showered and dressed, did my hair, brushed my teeth and I was ready to leave for work. I opened the back door and it happened – a beautiful thing. A thing that put all my earthly angst in perspective. A thing that made me smile. A thing that brought light back into a dark time.

An adult male cardinal flew from my right to my left, its brilliant scarlet plumage glowing in the clear morning sunlight. My breath caught in my throat. In the milliseconds the cardinal was right in front of me, and I mean not even a foot away from my eyes, I saw beauty and grace. I saw freedom and happiness. I saw God in a glimpse of red.