Our friend Sue Silverstein from Bishop Maginn send Maria the perfect gift, a live Butterfly Growing Kit. It has everything needed – food, simple directions – for bringing four butterflies into the world in about a week.
This is the perfect gift for children – I sent one off to my granddaughter Robin, who is loving and it who is also the proud mama of four butterflies, who she watched grow from larvae into beautiful butterflies.
I named the first one of our Gabriel, after Gabriel Garcia Marquez, who wrote so eloquently about the need for rebirth. Watching these butterflies emerge was rewarding and more exciting than I would have thought.
This morning, the new butterflies are snacking on sugared water and the orange juice slices Maria thoughtfully provided them. It is good to be Maria’s donkeys, dogs, plants, trees, or butterflies (husband too.)
Tomorrow, they will get to live either in Maria’s booming garden or in the tall grass we are letting the lawn become in the front of the house.
This kit is wonderfully designed – simple, clean, fascinating, and educational. You don’t need to do a lot more than watch. Everything is provided, the orange juice slices are optional.
I’m big on rebirth.
I love butterflies.I saw this today & thought of you:
Me: Hello God.
God: Hello.
Me: I’m falling apart. Can you put me back together?
God: I’d rather not.
Me: Why?
God: Because you’re not a puzzle.
Me: What about all the pieces of my life that fall to the ground?
God: Leave them there for a while. They fell for a reason. Let them be there for a while and then decide if you need to get any of those pieces back.
Me: You don’t understand! I’m breaking up!
God: No, you don’t understand. You’re transcending, growing. What you feel are growing pains. You’re getting rid of the things and people in your life that are holding you back. The pieces are not falling down. The pieces are putting in place. Relax. Take a deep breath and let those things you no longer need fall down. Stop clinging to pieces that are no longer for you. Let them fall. Let them go.
Me: Once I start doing that, what will I have left?
God: Only the best pieces of yours.
Me: I’m afraid to change.
God: I keep telling you: YOU’RE NOT CHANGING! YOU’RE BECOMING!
Me: Becoming, Who?
God: Becoming who I created you to be! A person of light, love, charity, hope, courage, joy, mercy, grace and compassion. I made you for so much more than those shallow pieces you decided to adorn yourself with and that you cling to with so much greed and fear. Let those things fall off you. I love you! Don’t change! Become! Don’t change! Become! Become who I want you to be, who I created. I’m gonna keep telling you this until you remember.
Me: There goes another piece.
God: Yes. Let it be like this.
Me: So… I’m not broken?
God: No, but you’re breaking the darkness, like dawn. It’s a new day. Become!! Become who you really are!!”
Jon, I am so excited about this. I am in a 12 step program & part of our spiritual practice at night is to answer ‘Were we thinking of what we could do for others, of what we could pack into the stream of life?’
Usually I answer this as to how I am helping people in my 12 step fellowship but recently with the virus, unemployment etc I am thinking of this more in line with how I can be useful to the suffering in my community & country. I have a young single mom who lives next store to me with a 5 year old. She is dog groomer & is just now able to go back to work 1 or 2 days with New Jersey starting to open up. She is trying to juggle going back to work & also her daughter not having school or day care available. This little girl loves nature & animals. She ask me all the time if she can pick flowers from my garden & shows me how she uses grass, dandelions, rocks, sticks to make art on her sidewalk. They have dogs, fish, turtle, hamster – a practical zoo. She would love these butterflies & I love being able to get her something when her mom must be struggling to juggle all the bills. Yippee!!!!
I ordered this from Insect Lore instead of Amazon. My grand daughters are enjoying watching the caterpillars grow. I’m sending the lady bug kit next month so they will mature in time for garden release. Trying to not order from Amazon if I can help it. Going to the business web site first.