It is hot, do you believe it? Hot. I have the fan blowing to dispel the heavy air. There’s a golden, ethereal color to the light. Quite magical. Must be the storm clouds bending the early morning sunlight. It is spilled down into the courtyard and out over the pasture. I enjoyed watching a silly squirrel scamper around the gnarled branches of the pecan tree. His tail went like a propeller blade. I was amazed how he could go up onto the tips of the thinnest branches, plucking nuts from the leaves. Heard a couple plunk onto the rocks surrounding the pond below. We are not getting any nuts to speak of this year, so doubt if the squirrel is getting to save any.

I would like to empty my brain of all the stored moldy nuts there. I really want to simplify my life. I’ve done okay in the house; Jim and I had been deliberately clearing out for a number of years. Yes, there’s still more that needs to go now, but the material things are more or less in control. It is my mind that is cluttered. Then from that mind, I keep doing a bunch of stuff that only clutters my life and wastes my time.

For instance, this morning an actress from the ’80s popped into my mind. I picked up my cell phone to look her up. For heaven sake. Whatever did I need that information for, or to expend the time and energy just to be nosey?

I could have used those five minutes and thought energy expended to look up that bit of trivia instead to ponder my writing, see where I want to go with it, invite in some inspiration. I will go where my mind goes. If it goes in circles, so will I, filling up but never truly filled.

Dear God, let me keep it simple today. Let me savor and spend well the most valuable possession of time. Let me say no to those thoughts and activities that do not contribute to my life. Amen.

God bless us all. Have a great day!

The ability to simplify means to eliminate the unnecessary so that the necessary may speak.  ~Hans Hofmann