At the time of day when colors streak the sky, it seems inevitable to think back on the day and all that’s happened. My grandpa used to say that if you didn’t learn anything in a day (even if you are busy) you wasted the whole day. 

At the very least, maybe this day I’m learning something about … how beautiful it is when the colored sunset touches the ripples of water. The sparkles seem to dance then, and the birds and insects buzz around as time settles into the nighttime routine that’s gone on for millennia.

With that observation I may have not wasted a day - however, I confess, I did learn some new things. Some of it is interesting only to me, but I’ll share that I’m blessed to live in a community of people that always brings something new and special into my life. Some strangers, some not, but all with something of themselves they give out each day to their friends, family, neighbors.

Sometimes what they give is a smile, a word, or a gesture. But it is this – the fact that everyone gives something even without realizing it – that makes a place become a community. Kind of like the colors of a streaked sky reaching out and blending with the water to create something special … a community that ripples on into time – each ripple not always noticed, but always there effecting others.

So maybe I really did learn something today?