Today's Picture of the Day is a simple reminder that we have reached the close of yet another week in the Community Comment Blog. This week has been marked for being free of contention, dissension or anger, and although each one of those divisive forms have purpose in the exchange of ideas, and thus always would have a place in our dialogs, they have been fortunately absent.

Cindy H. stated it with some emphasis this morning, “Sometimes the only way to endure the awful ugliness of life is to embrace what is still good.”

I cannot help but remember those rare and near-celestial moments of utter peace, and I openly embrace their presence in my life. Of some of my favorite memories, one will always be my grandmother, sitting on the front porch in her rocker during Summer evenings reading her Bible. The sounds of the creaking of the old rocker, the occasional turning of a page, combined with the buzzing of the bees in the honeysuckle vines nearby, had a quality which forbade or at least discouraged conversation. There was nothing that needed to be said to complete the tranquility. You simply sat there as the day came to a close, perhaps marveling, having lived in bigger towns nearby, at the absence of sound in that tiny Midwestern town. Nothing stirred at twilight on a summer's evening. It was a complete statement in and of itself.

My grandfather once said of those quiet times, “Don't bother her, now. She's talking things over with God .”

And so for a moment, as the sun begins its rise in the Eastern sky this morning, I encourage others to seek out and rejoice in the tranquility that abides in each of us, rather than dissension and strife that surround us on all sides. There will be time enough for all that in the day, but for the moment, embrace what is still good, seek out and celebrate those things that make us as beautiful as the fading stars overhead.

For if we are one in purpose in favor of tranquility, who is it that will speak in favor of strife?

Dave

---

---