Keeping It Real by Susan L.

  It's a lovely morning for December. The sun is shining. The temperatures are well above freezing. Everything is clean and fresh after yesterday's gentle rain. The lawn and pared back flower beds have a sparkle where the sun penetrates past the empty branches of sleeping giants. The twisted shadows of the ancient apple tree mark the grass with dark green zebra stripes.
  There's a huge flock of sea gulls riding the thermals above my house. With barely a wing flap, they circle and climb then lazily drift down to catch the next air elevator up. Their white feathers are glistening against a blue sky punctuated with a few, high and fluffy clouds.
  It has me wondering where they are heading with such a unity of purpose. It has me wondering how much fun it would be to be up there, soaring, at one with the wind.
  There's a raven in the distance uttering a deep croak that echoes through the valley.
  Everything feels right with the world on a morning like this. Even if Pumpkin is merrily knocking ornaments off the lower branches of my Christmas tree!
  "The heavens are Yours, the earth also is Yours; The world and all its fullness, You have founded them." Ps 89:11