Late Summer Post from the Patio

I haven't been sitting on my patio for a while now. As you may recall if you've read my blog posts often, my east-facing backyard patio is too bright and usually too hot by the time I'm up and have taken my meds and made my coffee. 

Most days, I'm up by 8:00 or so (retirement perk!), but since the sun gets up much earlier than that, I end up taking my coffee to my recliner, which is in front of my west-facing living room window. This is a nice place to have my coffee and quiet time. My bird feeder is outside this window, so it's "somewhat" like being outside. 

Nothing really replaces the cool morning breeze and the sounds of nature waking up, though. For that, I have to actually go outside.

This morning, I woke up about 7:30, and managed to get myself up out of bed within a few minutes. I took my medications and fixed my coffee, then outside I went! By the time I opened the backdoor, about 8:10, the sun had topped the trees, at least from my perspective on the back porch. Seven steps down to the patio, however, and the sun was still behind the trees a bit. 

I sat down, after I reopened the patio umbrella. We've been having lots of thunderstorms with high winds in the past few weeks, so I have just left the umbrella closed to protect it.

I was only able to sit out there for 15 minutes or so, because even though it was still a cool 65 degrees out, the sun was blaring down on my patio too much for me.

One thing I got from this morning that I felt was worth sharing was that of perspective. If I had judged whether or not I could have my coffee and prayer time on the patio based on the conditions on the porch, I would have turned around and gone back inside. But five feet can make a difference. Once I was on the lower ground of the patio, it was still shady from the trees behind my house. 

It may seem silly, but I was so glad to have a short time on the patio. It was like a preview of the cooler weather that is to come. I am looking forward to the cool mornings that come with later sunrises. Fall and winter are my favorites for this reason. I love the mornings that I need a sweater to sit out there.

From this morning's reading:

"The Lord sustains all who fall and raises up all who are bowed down. The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due time. You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." Psalm 145:14-16.

Be blessed my friends!