Tonight, as I sat in the beauty of the dusk…listening to the sounds of nature welcome the coming of the evening and watching the sky slowly change from the orange glow of late afternoon sunshine to the softly brushed mix of clouds and sun and blue sky that becomes the sunset, a sense of peace wrapped its loving arms around me. It comforted my soul. It told me that no matter how much I worried or stressed about the changes that were taking place around me in my life, what was meant to be would somehow find its way into my world. And all would be fine. My exhaustion, from working so hard to try to make things perfect and happen at a certain time, would slowly dissipate.. and my energy would once again return. For in life, all things have a balance… if we allow the natural and beautiful order of things to occur. If we remember that we are not in control… but allow ourselves to have faith that the right things will happen the way they are supposed to happen because God is in charge, we can find peace and better understanding.
And so it is with so much of what happens in life. During younger stages of my life, I often struggled with feelings of being incapable of accomplishing as much as I would like to.. or should. I felt that I should measure up to others in some way… that I was capable of doing much more. Yet, there were only so many hours in each day, so many tasks that I could complete. And there were priorities – important issues in my life that took my full energy and attention. It took time and growing older to understand that perhaps we are not meant to accomplish everything we are capable of in one certain time of our life. There is no cliff we will fall off if we don’t do everything at a certain time. Perhaps we are not meant to accomplish all of our life’s special achievements in the “prime” of our life, but perhaps we are meant to mature, to grow, to let nature take its course, and allow ourselves to then use some of our most special gifts when we reach our older years. So much of life is a beautiful mystery.. and perhaps if we accept the understanding that when we allow ourselves to be open to God’s special guidance and timing and never give up on being in tune with what we are called to do and when we are called to do it, our lives and the story of who we are can take on special meaning. When we realize that all things will happen in the way and order they are meant to happen.. we can find peace and satisfaction.
Each portion of the day sends out its share of beauty – from the glory of the dawn to the beautiful brilliance of mid day to the magic of the sunset.. and it all follows a natural course. And so will our lives… if we allow ourselves to believe.

~ Carole Carter – words and photograph