By Rosie Moore

Archibald Rutledge, an American poet and educator, once wrote: “I once had a curious experience with a star. I was on the path to my farm at dusk when I was overtaken by a violent storm. The rain came down into howling darkness, the thunder and lightening were appalling. A bolt struck a pine 20 feet from me. The tree crashed down. Alone I was defenseless, in the profound fury of the wind.

“I squinted through the heavy rain toward what I believed was the west. To my amazement, I saw a rift in the inky darkness hardly bigger than my hand, and in the very heart of it gleamed the evening star. In faithful stillness and peace it shone, saying to my heart,: ‘This storm is only temporary. The sky is here, and the stars.’

“Amid the chaos about me, here came a celestial message. Shining through the storm, its light reminded me of something past our world. Taking heart, I waded out to the road, headed homeward trough the breaking storm, and reached the house in full, calm starlight.”

Music, Nature’s beauty, and kindnesses from others, are all life’s extras. I would like to add some other extras that make it easier to start each day: a day free from pain or calamities, a day of unexpected surprise,  a bird’s song, a flower’s bloom, a cat’s purr, a dog’s lick, success in the projects we do each day, success in our family life.

Then there are life’s extras of aches and pains. We have to have them to appreciate the wonderful extras that God has given us. To face life’s extras, be they great or small, is another way of saying, thank you, God

Thought for the day: Hopes, what are they? Beads of morning, strung on slender blades of grass; Or a spider’s web adorning in a straight and treacherous pass.   William Wordsworth

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