I am grateful for the backdrop I saw this morning. Stopped at a red light, I was admiring the fullness of an impressive oak in a heavy green cloak of leaves. What made it even more impressive was the backdrop of sky blue that popped with cotton ball clouds, complementing the vibrant summer green.

Yesterday, I worked all day staring at a computer while my husband worked at home, supervising the installation of our new kitchen cabinets. When I walked into the house last night, I was speechless. Tears of overwhelm and pure gratitude joy kept welling up as I took in the sight of all the hard work he has put in to make a beautiful kitchen for us to enjoy for the next several years. The backdrop of sheetrocked walls and evening sunlight highlighted the raw wood cabinets now set into their rightful places. I am more than grateful for the construction site that will soon be a new kitchen.

The current backdrop is late afternoon shadows and peeking sun through the forest of trees outside my office window, while somewhere through the walls, someone is playing soothing music that barely makes its way to my cubicle. God gives me these gifts throughout the day, and sometimes I am a spoiled child who does not even recognize the wrapped up beautiful. Sometimes I am too busy to notice His creation that is a breathtaking backdrop all around me.

I can just make out the faint piano sound of “Claire de Lune” and I think of my Mom and her love for that particular piece. Thursdays are now designated piano days, the day I will go to my Dad’s to just play the piano for a little while. I am grateful he wants to hear me play…Claire de Lune is not on the program for tonight, but maybe one of these days it will be – a nice backdrop to an end of a long Thursday.