cloudy days

I've been going through photos I took during my trip

to Texas last month - and frankly,

there are just a few that have absolutely nothing to do

with anything that I might post about right now.

But they are burning a hole in my hard drive.

So I figured I might as well just share them...

I'm assuming that you all have figured out by now that

cold weather isn't exactly my cup of tea.

Actually, I don't care for it - even a little bit.

I dread it; a lot.

So, on a particularly cold and dreary November day

like this one...

I've cheered myself with these sunny photos.

And they got me thinking.

I can't tell you how many friends, (um, and family too....)

have made a bizarre statement to me lately.

Each living in an insanely unfair amount of gorgeous

never-ending sunshine...

has come to the conclusion, that after so many

days upon cloudless days,

they actually look forward to some rain every now and then.

How crazy is that?

But as a human, I know it's true.

If it's always sunny, we don't appreciate it -

(kind of like if it always rains - we don't appreciate it...)

Sometimes we just need those dark days,

to remind us how incredible sunshine truly is.

It's true for the rest of life too.

If it weren't for those awful bad days,

life would be as flat as a Midwestern corn field.

I need those valley days to appreciate the peaks.

And I might even need Winter

to rejoice when Spring comes again.

So, I'm learning to be thankful for life's cloudy days.

Sorrows in life only serve to make us deeper,

and our joys sweeter.

They make us stop and count our blessings.

They keep our hearts tender toward a hurting world.

Yes, God in His Wisdom made things that way.

Am I thankful for the Cold aspect?

Eh; still working on that.