The golden windows

This is a picture of my grandmother, Mary Lee Toll.  She was 18 when this picture was painted in 1912.  I of course, knew her much later in her life as my grandma.  We called her Toopta or Toopie or Toop.  No one knows why.

Note the red hair.  Before I went gray, my beard was red.  [random trivia.]

When I was a child, my father's mother, my grandmother, Toopta, told me a story.  In the story a boy wakes up in the morning and looks to the west.  He sees a house with brilliant golden windows.  The boy decides that this is a better house than his and he takes off for a day long trek to get to the house with golden windows.

At the end of the day, he arrives, to find that the windows are not golden.  But as he looks back towards the east, he sees his house now, with golden windows.

My grandma had to explain this story to me.  In the morning, the sun shines on the houses to the west and their windows shine golden.  In the late afternoon, the sun has moved and the houses to the east now have golden windows.

The moral of the story is that no home is better than your home.  Stop wanting something more.  Stop wanting something different.  Go home and be happy.

And so, the other day I was up in the morning and there was a rainbow over my neighbors house.   I took a picture of it, and sent it to him.  Ten minutes later, he sent me a picture of a rainbow over our house.  The pictures were not on the same day, but it reminded me of the story that my grandmother told me.  

Rainbow over my neighbor's house

Rainbow over our house
 [on the left with garage door open]

You may think that it is different or better over there, but it is good at your home as well.  Learn to see the good.  Bloom where you are planted.

It's a beautiful day in God's world, be sure to see the good.

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I am leading a River Cruise to Belgium and the Netherlands March 19-27, 2022. If you are interested in reading about the trip or joining in, the link is below.

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