It's Monday

Summer is sending her calling card: though her formal arrival is a few days off, today the forecast is for triple digits – but a persistent breeze keeps the mosquitoes from lighting.

Our porch remains a favorite perch from which I can survey the early morning. Its calm is sometimes broken by noise of traffic and bi-weekly garbage trucks that rumble through the adjoining alley.  I can see its top as it pauses, and then I wondered about the men who man it.  What would (my) life be like if he were not there – or if the soul(s) who organized its collection and dispatch had not imagined its management?  (More info)  

Mornings on the porch are a good time to recall how large my debts are to so many people. But, with these recollections comes the awareness how limited is my ability to repay the debt. 

So, I opened the gate and thanked the young worker – I think we both surprised each other.   

·      We often take for granted the very things that most deserve our gratitude. (~Cynthia Ozick)

·      Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone.  (~ G.B. Stern) 

No, this is not the best of all possible worlds.   But today, so far, this is a wide place in worrisome times. Today the heat index will be high  -- perhaps reaching 110 degrees. Another Texas summer is arriving. God willing I will enjoy eight to ten more weeks of such blasts.  Whew.

And God willing, I will remember innumerable kindnesses and comforts, and open my mouth in praise for the God who sees, hears, loves and rules.  (Isaiah 53)

·      There is no such thing as gratitude unexpressed.  If it is unexpressed, it is plain, old-fashioned ingratitude.  (~ Robert Brault )