Thoughts From the Patio

It is after nine in the evening, and I am sitting out on the patio with my laptop. A cool breeze wafts past, the leaves of the Little Leaf Lindon tree dancing and waving. A bird, likely a robin, flutters out from the branches, chirping its good-bye as it flys away.

Through the slats of the patio walls, I glimpse the rose arbour with fuschia blossoms in full bloom. Beside it a white hydrangasway. Other colours dot the garden that stretches across the back part of the lot - yellow-orange, red, and lots of green from flowers not yet in bloom.

The sky is still quite light, though off in the distance a touch of pink spreads across the sky in a blush. A few whispy white clouds drift by, and more off in the distance look blue. It will be a little longer before the sky grows dark, but there is still enough light that it doesn't feel as late as it is (though is between nine and nine thirty in the evening really considered late?).

Not too far off in the distance is the highway - the Trans Canada - the cars and big rigs roar past carring their passengers to their destinations unknown. The traffic in the city buzzes around at regular intervals, the din an ever present reminder that there is never really any silence in the city.

God is here. He is here in His creation; He is here in Spirit. As I look around, I am filled with a sense of awe that all of this belongs to Him. The wind does not blow without His permission, the birds do not fly without His help. Beauty was brought about by His very breath, for He spoke all things into being.

I sit here, still on the patio and the blush of pink in the distant sky grows deeper, the sun sets further and further below the horizon and the sky loses much of its light now. The breeze is still blowing, the trees still swaying in the wind. I am filled with peace - peace from the Lord who reigns on high, the Lord of heaven and earth.

Thank you Lord for this day and for the beauty You have created in Your nature. Thank You for Your love, for breathing life into us and calling us to be Your children. Thank You for sending Jesus to die for our sins and to be raised from the dead so that we could be forgiven and given eternal life with You. Amen.