Breakfast With God

5:00 a.m. -56 degrees -4/15/26 This morning, I have moved to my back deck, also redwood, which sits deeper into the forest. The deck overlooks a lake fed by underground springs and home to an abundant amount of wildlife. The lake is surrounded by pitch pines and red maples flaunting their newly formed buds and bringing a red hue to the forest and around the lake. There is also a peninsula jutting out into the lake, which is called Deer Island because deer are often found sleeping there. I have several water gardens around the deck, and one of them has become home to a frog I raised from a tadpole last summer. The deck is also defined by small solar lanterns that stand like little soldiers around the perimeter of the property.

5:06 train is still rumbling through the forest, a welcome sound. I am sitting in darkness, wrapped in God's love as his forest speaks to me, alive with his glory. Even though I sit in complete darkness, I am surrounded by God's gentle creatures who have become my friends.

5:09 Today is my mother's birthday. She is with God now and has been for many years. But I still miss her. She was a gentle soul who loved all of God's little creatures, full of compassion, never a bad word. She was alive with nature, like the forest I live in. She is at home now, but I still miss her very much.

5:26 The Brant, Eastern Phoebe, and the Robin have begun this morning's chorus, and the forest begins a new day. I say my prayers and talk with God. I tell him how much I love him and how much I appreciate all that he has put in my place as I journey through this life. I study a passage from the Bible and put a portion of it into memory.

5:31 The forest is alive now with a surrounding sound of nature. God did not create the beauty of this world for nothing. He knew there would be many valleys for all of us. As Jesus said. "Pick up your cross and follow me." Well, we all have our own cross; God just gave us a little beauty to soothe the way. This, along with prayer, is God's rod and staff that go before us.