Summer Evening of the Heart

* I've reworded this post a little here and there, but it was originally published almost exactly two years ago.  I find myself thinking a lot about the pursuit of contentment these days and it popped into my mind.  I need to remind myself of these things more often, and probably start building on what I already know a little more aggressively.

Sometimes, while The Man and I are sitting at the supper table after the meal is over, I decide I really do love my life.

The girls are off playing in a different room already, but he and I just sit and linger occasionally at the big dining room window, enjoying the play of light and shadow between the evening sun and the trees that surround our yard.

I think it's my favourite time of day.

The air cools off a little, the gentle breeze tickles the poplar leaves and they spin and flash in the sunlight streaming through them. The lilies lazily dance as the air moves them and the hummingbirds streak back and forth in front of the dining room window, stopping briefly at the feeder or in a tree to preen. The kittens race around, chasing each other from tree to tree, wrestling each other to the ground. The older cats and the dog lazily watch the antics of the younger kittens.

I can't help but feel at peace.

Too often, I focus on things I don't have ~ things that I THINK would make my life easier or better or more fun, but really, the blessings are already too numerous to count. I just need to focus on THEM instead of my temporal desires!

During most of the day, my brain is cluttered with "to do" and "could 'n' should" lists, and invariably, my mind drifts into wishing things were different. That I didn't have to work so hard at keeping my kitchen and home tidy, that I could finish a task without being interrupted, or that my home was bigger, my vehicle was newer, that we had money to replace the flooring, that we had a second bathroom, etc., etc., etc...

But in the brief window of time after supper's finished and the dishes haven't been started yet, something happens.

So often it's when the clouds move on, having accomplished their purpose in the heat and humidity of the late afternoon, and we're treated to a beautiful sunset in the cool of the evening ~ the western sky ablaze with colour.  Sometimes a rainbow lingers against the clouds in the darkening eastern sky.

The timing varies from week to week as the daylight hours wax and wane with the seasons, but still it happens. That magical time when the sun shines just right through the trees and the yard is set aglow. The colours of the flowers more vibrant, the greens more varied, the diamond dewdrops more visible, the bird songs sweeter, the clouds whispier...

And suddenly, I have everything I need. Everything I ever wanted. My soul is blissfully content.

And I realize summertime evenings are as much an attitude of my heart as they are a daily occurrence.