Reflection

 Every morning holds its own beauty. For me, it is that moment of time when the dark still lingers, yet it is light enough to see the surrounding grounds and the woods...just before the sun makes it's full announcement of another day beginning.  I can never say which morning is more beautiful........just when I think to myself..........

"Ahhh, this is the most beautiful morning sunrise I have ever seen!".....the next morning introduces me to another breath taking beauty!   I witnessed the most beautiful sunrise this morning.  I was greeted with a solid band of soft yellow/orange, darker tangerine, and a layer of red with a hint of blue.  I just stood in in quiet wonder........with not a sound around me, absorbing this gift of a new day starting. 

Our winter days have not been acting as winter days.  We have sunny, warm days, with temps in the mid 60s to low 70s. 

The nights have dipped down to cold........but as of yet, no ice or snow.  With this usual Texas dryness the wind picks up........sending the dry fields dust into the air and making the sky a light brown.

I look back on the past year.....so many issues and situations for us personally have caused me to be glad that we got through the year and it is now behind us. Some issues and situations left us with a loss that , without, getting too heavy and personal, I pray no one knows the feeling of. Yet, within some of this "loss" a lift of the burden of stress was removed. For me, situations like this are bittersweet.  Though the trials and defeats we faced were unsettling, we had so much more of the year with peace, happiness, and goodness in the days. 

And now....a new year.  When once I felt I had to have new plans, new lists, new expectations to be fulfilled.....I now only greet a new era of our life with hope.  Hope that I may have learned from the good...and the bad... from  the year before. Hope that I can handle and accomplish things better, hope on  how to not allow situations to rule over values of what I believe to be............good. I don't need greatness, over performing expertise, admiration or attention .......I just want goodness in all things and in how I live each day.  For me, goodness brings peace. It eliminates drama, stress, insecurities, and grief.  I have the hope that this year will be filled with calm, goodness, and peace.  That is pretty much all I can ask for. That is all I hope for ,as well as for my children's and family's lives and for those I hold dear. 

And now, I send this wish to you.  May this new year, this new chapter, this new era, be filled with simple goodness for you.