Sunset

"God called the light Day, 

and the darkness He called night."

Genesis 1:5

What are your favorite things in life?  Experiences, smells, sights, sounds?  And how often do you get to experience them?

I love peanut butter and chocolate ice cream.  How often I have it is completely up to me.  I have to make the decision to spend money on it, and then I have to decide how much I have when I pull it out of my freezer, but it's all up to me.

I love Kauai.  I've only visited once, but I love its sand, and its sky and its ocean and its plants. I love its colors, its sights and smells.  And lucky for me, Kauai is just right over there.  Well, a few hours away by plane, but it's there.  It's not going anywhere, and the only impediment to my getting there is my bank account.  Or, I could sell my house and move there.  It's all up to me.

And I love the trees outside my window.  Out my dining room, I can see my apple tree; out the family room windows, I can see a rubber tree, and a bit of bougainvillea;  and out my living room, I can see tall, tall eucalyptus trees.   The view changes with the seasons, of course, and even with the time of day.  But whenever I sit down and look out the window, I feel a sense of peace, and I breathe a little sigh of contentment.  And how often am I able to do that?  Depends how busy my day is.  Sometimes my work can be done from my chair ~ reading for the kids schoolwork, any work I can do on my laptop ~ but even on days when I'm busy with different areas of the house, or out of the house entirely, I can start off, and come back to, the view out my windows.  It's all up to me.

But one of the things I love, that isn't up to me, is the sunset.  I love sunsets.

I love sunsets on cloudy days, and sunsets on blue sky days.

No two sunsets are quite the same.

I only get one a day, and I only get it in the evening.  And if I miss one, that one's gone forever.

And somehow, the fact that the sunset is beyond my control, makes it more precious to me.

I appreciate them, I think, because each one is a gift from Him.

What do you thank Him for, every day?

~ "Stand every morning to thank and praise the Lord,

and likewise at evening" ~

1 Chronicles 23:30