Sunny. 84 degrees. A soft breeze.
I have been sitting on my patio since late morning. Reading the newspaper and enjoying a fine Christmas day.
This Christmas may be unique for me. My friends the Moodies invited me to dinner this evening and I attended Christmas Eve service last night.
But this has been a day for solitude. To enjoy the bounty that Christmas symbolizes.
My garden is in bloom. Including my favorite blood-throated hibiscus that always reminds me of an orchid. The perfume of reproduction fills the yard.
Well, along with Mozart's whimsical Kegelstatt Trio. It is almost as if the Atlanta Chamber players had stopped by for a visit. That is, if the players relied on a pair of inadequate Sony speakers.
Earlier, the Salvation Army brass band invited me to O, Come All Ye Faithful -- as if John Philip Sousa was leading a procession smartly to Bethlehem. My music tastes run to the eclectic.
Tourists often insist on calling my little village a "paradise." It isn't. It has enough human-induced warts to play the witch of Endor.
But my theology informs me that we are to daily enjoy what God has given us. Family. Friends. Solitude. And an opportunity to share our lives and what we have been given with others.
It may not be paradise. But it is certain a blessed place where we can pass blessings along.
