Greetings, dear readers.

Fall has begun and I am grateful for its gifts, one of them being the continued profusion of wildflowers.

This bank of white wood asters is blooming along the road where I walk.

‘Aster’ is derived from the word for ‘star’ and these little beauties make it clear why. If I read their constellations, I can see a message of gratitude for summer’s abundance and for the cooling nights that lightened the tree canopy to give these flowers light.

What I am finding right now is that there is a peace to finding a story of gratitude where you are this moment. Some things may be hard, some things might even be terrible. I would never discount someone’s pain. In the midst – There is grace in your own strength in facing those things. There is a moment of sweetness in a cool breeze. There is a smile in the silly flop of the dog’s ears as she sleeps.

I hope the hard moments hold still a redeeming kernel of grace for you. A reminder that the stars are waiting, just up the road.

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Readers, I hope the graces are many and the hardships few for you. Be well and safe – I am grateful you are here.