This Season's Sunshine

After a great weekend of relaxation and refreshment, I am ready to take on a new week. This gorgeous weather we have been having has already called me out of doors to enjoy the late autumn beauties and warm sunshine. On days like today, it feels good to be alive and it is easy to be thankful and sanguine.

It is on dreary fall days, peppered with disappointing news and perplexing challenges, that it is not easy to be so upbeat. Focusing on the future, instead of living in the now, is a recipe for anxiety and worry. I am learning not to live there, but to stay in the moment, and realize the blessings and treasures all around.

Let's face it, I am one of the wealthy people in the world. Not only do I have a home to live in and a car of my own, stylish and not-so-stylish clothes to wear, plenty of good and nourishing food to eat, a family who loves me, access to good medical care, and even my own room and private space, I also have a God I have come to know more intimately who is walking beside me each day. I also have been able to have a solid education at both the university and college level and have opportunities to continue my education at my own pace and choosing. So I am richer materially than most of the world and spiritually than many people.

I have a glorious inheritance, and am blessed so richly I can't even begin to name all the ways that God has met my needs and also my desires. I am learning to delight in him and allow him to carry all my unresolved issues until such a time as we can deal with them together. He is faithful and He will do it!

Though I miss the satisfaction and renumeration of working as a nurse, I am going to make the most of this time I have been given. I will draw deeply from the well of living water and delve into God's Word. I will find ways to help others and stretch out my compassion muscles again. I will seek God's wisdom and guidance for this new season. For every season brings with it a special grace and a renewed purpose. I have so much to look forward to as this time in my life unfolds, but I can only take it one day and moment at a time. So here's to a November to remember and an autumn of discovery!

My youngest nephew on our hike in beautiful Alberta

My oldest nephew enjoyed exploring.

The upward climb in the foothills of the majestic Rockies.