May cheers

Do you ever wake up early, go out side and just listen? I'm doing that now.  I've already drained one cuppa, working on number two, and find comfort in the solitude of my porch.  I can just walk out here, in my pj's or whatever, and only the birds and squirrels can see.

The birds, by the way, speak their own language with clicks and whistles. Calls and screams. Some sing and some cackle. And because we are actually in the trees, I get to witness their behavior up close and personal. I like the challenge of trying to find the birds through the dense, dark green leaves of early summer. See what is making each sound. Squirrels, who must be one of nature's most acrobatic creatures, dance in the trees above my head. A dangerous dance that somehow lasts all of daylight. And the noise they make...weird.

And then there is the wind. Listening to the wind is actually one of my favorite sounds, especially before a storm because somehow the sound changes. I can hear the intensity pick up a notch through the leaves. I've stood, prior to a storm, and watched as the leaves on one tree begin to tremble, then, like a virus, it spreads to the next, and then the next. It comes from afar, and suddenly what was once thick, humid air sweeps past, replaced by a chill that causes the fringe of hair near my face to loosen it's sticky grasp. With the wind comes the sound of cracking twigs that spiral down to land on brittle brown leaves.

All of this majesty takes place every morning. Same time, same channel. It's all here, yet sometimes I choose not to soak it in.  Sometimes I'd rather catch those extra thirty minutes of sleep. Sometimes I'm nursing the precious one that depends on me for breakfast. Sometimes I'm scuttling here and there to get girls where they need to be. And all the while this beauty is here, waiting for me to notice.  And all of that reminds me of God's patient, loving embrace. All of his goodness. All of his splendor awaits us daily. Admission paid. Hand stamped (and no ugly reminder on your cheek the next morning! ha!) So cheers to you all, my friends and family who stop by to read what I have to say, on this lovely morning in late May. Take a minute to notice the beauty in today.

Halfway through cuppa 2, middle child on my lap needing me. Cheers!