I was traveling through the Atlanta airport last week. I entered my plane, buckled myself in to the seat and slid the window shade up so I would be free to view the city from a fresh, new perspective. I took a deep breath. Take-off is my favorite part of flying. The views are always so incredible!
Well…. Except this time. 😐
This time, the plane took off and almost immediately entered a cloud bank. There was no incredible view. In fact, the clouds were so thick, I could barely see the tip of the wing. (That picture on the left was my actual view.)
It wasn’t anybody’s “fault”, it was simply a matter of circumstances; a conglomerate of scientific events I don’t understand, much less have the knowledge to explain. All I really knew was that my favorite part of the trip was being ruined– and there was nothing at all I could do about it.
I’ll just cut to the chase and be honest here. I was mumbling under my breath. 🤑 Instead of being thrilled about my journey… or grateful that we live in an era where modern instruments would still keep us safely in the air— I was throwing an internal tantrum of “cranky five-year-old” proportions. All I wanted was a good view!
Alas— just as I was finally making peace with the situation, the clouds cleared. The sky brightened, the sunlight glistened off the silver wing tip. The clouds which once obscured my view were suddenly white and puffy.
It was the same seat, on the same plane, in the same airspace — but the pilot had climbed to a higher altitude, and in the blink of an eye, the scene from my window changed. Suddenly, every thing was beautiful again!
A smile crossed my face. I know a lesson when I see it! 😊 The sun was ALWAYS there. It was just obscured for a short while. A change of altitude revealed what the gray sky had temporarily hidden from me.
Life can be like that, you know. Our way can seem clouded and uncertain; bleak and scary. Obscured by rough patches we can’t clearly see through. There are often “clouds” or even storms to contend with— but we can’t allow the scenery to intimidate us.The situations we find ourselves in can change quickly. Radically!
Some times our “altitude” changes. We push passed circumstances and grow— stretching our vantage point a bit. Other times, a strong wind may come up out of nowhere and push the fog away for us. (Thank you, Father!) But inevitably, the clouds in our life will eventually part. The sun will shine and the view will change. It’s part of the ebb and flow of being alive. It’s funny that it took 15 minutes in the clouds to remind me of that!
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, today marks the first day of the sun’s return to us! Starting today, each day will become a little bit lighter… and stay brighter just a little longer! With each lengthening day, the hope of spring—- and the renewal it brings— draws closer. I’ve got to admit— that’s music to my ears!!!
I have chosen today to send my last communication of the year. Before I take a much needed little winter break, I wanted to reach out to you and let you know how deeply grateful I am for YOU.
I am grateful that you have opened your hearts up to me and allowed me to share snippets of my life with you over these last five years. I hope you have been blessed by the BuiltToBeAButterfly website and I pray you have found the words I’ve shared here to be honest, inspiring and thought provoking.
The creation of a website and the maintaining of a blog were certainly wayoutside of my skill set and comfort zone! But I believed the world NEEDED encouragement, so I “put my big girl panties on” and muddled through it. It took a while to work out the technical kinks but eventually, www.BuiltToBeButterfly.com was born.
(Okay… Okay. So the kinks never really have gotten COMPLETELY worked out…. LOL…. But you always knew you could come here to the website and scroll through the posts, even when the email program out witted me) 😉
It’s certainly been a roller coaster ride of successes and failures. In some ways, it’s become way more successful than I ever dreamed. In other ways, it’s left me confused and a little disappointed. But God has blessed me through it all and has allowed me to see that I’ve blessed others as well. That is a reward I can’t put a price tag on.
That said, for the last several months, I have been praying for direction on where to take this ministry. The world we live in has definitely changed in the last couple of years. It seems most people are too busy, too overwhelmed or just too dang tired at the end of their day to sit and read. So, I’m looking at moving away from blogging.
I’m not sure what that will mean for the future of the BuiltToBeAButterfly website…
I have committed to renewing the domain for the 2022 calendar year and will continue to pay for web hosting through 2022. I will still publish posts here occasionally, but will be investing most of my time and energy into completing other writing projects that I have been working on.
In due season, you may hear more about those. 😉
While you’re waiting—– I hope you stay BRAVE!! That you promise to keep GROWING. That you give yourself the freedom to leave your cocoon and CHANGE what needs to be changed—-and that you NEVER– EVER– STOP striving to become a stronger, more beautiful version of yourself!
Here’s to all you beautiful butterflies in the making!!
I’d like to introduce you to Polly—- She’s my peace lily. She is currently living in our guest house, comfortably positioned in front of a 1930’s window, overlooking the porch. She absolutely LOVES it here and her shiny, deep green leaves and new growth are testimony to that.
She’s always been such an “easy keeper”; able to live in low light conditions without much of a fuss. All she required was a cup of water a couple of times a week and a few minutes of my time each month where I would wipe the dust from her luscious leaves and cut away any old, withering growth. On occasion, she would thank me with the most unique white blooms that would jettison out of her foliage.
But last summer, we sold our house and made a radical move. I left her with one of my grown children—-just until we got settled in. I promised I would be back for her then.
The days turned to weeks, and the weeks turned into a few months. It’s not uncommon for life to happen like that. But for Polly, the time was unbearable. She had not just lost her favorite spot on our bathroom counter… she had lost the steady dependability of someone noticing the “little things” in her behavior. My daughter meant well, but she was taking a full college load of classes and holding down a full time job, so she didn’t have time to notice that Polly’s leaves were drooping and turning yellow.
By the time I settled in and came back for my plants, Polly was almost unrecognizable. Most of her foliage was brown and crusty, and what wasn’t dead was certainly in need of life support. I brought her to the new place and immediately cut away all the dead and dying leaves. There was more cut away than I was able to leave. Then I watered her and watched with deep sadness as every drop was swallowed up by the desperately thirsty soil. I really don’t know how long it had been since she had received a good soaking that had quenched her roots.
I took a step back and looked at her. She kind of looked like a shy six year old who had given herself a hair cut. It was bad. I mean…. really, really, really bad. She looked pitiful. Almost un-salvageable. I really wasn’t completely sure I could save her. But… I was certainly willing to try.
I found her a special place, on a tiny dresser, parked between two stately Queen Anne chairs in the living room of our guest house. She had a window view that overlooked the porch and back yard. I watched her intently, and at the first indication of her leaves drooping, I would water her generously. I even went so far as to take the strands of hair from my hair brush and gently tuck them in to the soil around her roots. (This might sound gross but it adds nutrients to the soil.) I rotated her pot occasionally so that each of her leaves received the benefit of sunlight.
I waited. And waited. And…. I waited some more. You see, trauma care is like that. It requires “patient enduring”. It requires an understanding of what she needs to be healthy. In Polly’s case, it was just frequent and adequate watering, and a comfy indoor spot where she could get a little bit of sunlight. She just needed me to offer faithful, tender care —even when it appeared that nothing was happening.
It took several months, but Polly has recuperated and is almost back to her old self. I’m confident that it won’t be long before she is once again vibrant enough to send up shooting blooms of gratitude. I’m eagerly— but patiently— awaiting that day.
You know, plants aren’t so different from humans. We need an environment where we can thrive, too. What that environment looks like is going to be a bit different for each of us, but we each need food, water, sunlight. We each need kindness and a little TLC every now and then.
When the balance in our life is “off”, it shows. Our health declines. Our emotional state suffers. Even our most valued relationships can be victimized by how well— or how poorly— we prioritize our time and energy.
If you can see the correlation between yourself and Polly… I want to assure you that Polly is doing well. I also want to encourage you with the reality that you can reach a place where you are healthy and thriving, too! Yes, it takes making some changes. Like in Polly’s case, I had to take the scissors and literally cut away all the dead and dying leaves that were sucking her energy. I had to remove her from an environment where her needs were going unnoticed… and plant her in a place where the things she required for optimal health were offered.
I can’t say what your specific needs are. But I bet you already know what isn’t quite “right”. Like Polly, it might require that you “cut away” some dead weight from your life. If that sentence causes you stress— don’t turn away. Let’s explore a few practical things that you might try.
Maybe your environment is too cluttered? If we’re each honest with ourselves, we probably don’t need MORE space; we most likely just need to purge from the excess we already own. We can usually do a better job of choosing the “best stuff” from all the “good stuff” we surround ourselves with.
I do this by asking myself what I would save if there were a fire. Seriously! If your house were on fire and family and pets were safe, what would be the first things you would try to get out of your home? What ever those things are? Built your decor around them. Be purposeful in your selections. Make your home a place that is filled with things you love; not just a sleeping and eating space that is cluttered with stuff!
Dig out treasured things that make you smile and display them in unique ways. Maybe that means making a shadow box with some of your children’s old toys, shoes or pictures? Maybe it’s using grandma’s quilt as a throw over the couch? Maybe it’s putting cherished photographs under glass on your coffee table. Get creative! But choose things that make your insides happy!
You might need to brighten up your space. It doesn’t cost a lot to clean and paint, yet the results can be SO refreshing! And personally, I believe a few plants always cheer a place up! If you don’t really have a green thumb, you can choose from easy to care for plants that require very little but give an awful lot. New gauze curtains are an easy way to brighten up a room, and throw pillows are a great way to add color and style without breaking the budget.
Maybe your home is in order, but your body is not?! Polly wouldn’t have regained her health with out the proper amounts of light and water—-and neither can we! Get out! Get active. It doesn’t require a gym membership. Start slowly with a walk down the road after dinner. Take your shoes off and let your toes play in the grass. Go ahead and Laugh! But if you take a few minutes to try it, you might just be surprised at how refreshed it makes you feel.
Be purposeful about what goes into your body, too. Make it a point to eat more fruit and veggies and to ditch the junk food. We all know this … we just get busy… and lazy… and try to pretend it doesn’t make that much difference. But it does! Polly would have died if I had substituted wine for water and TV time for sunshine! Please don’t get offended. Just ponder it a bit and see if any of this rings true in your life. If it does… let it motivate you!
Let me leave you with this: Environment matters. We can kid ourselves all we want. We can keep pushing ourselves until we drop. We can keep making excuses. We can keep living in denial. But it’s the truth. If we want to thrive—- we have to take a serious look at our environment and be willing to make some changes. In the end, it has worked for Polly. It is working for ME, and I’m willing to bet that it will work for you, too.
This time, the plane took off and almost immediately entered a cloud bank. There was no incredible view. In fact, the clouds were so thick, I could barely see the tip of the wing. (That picture on the left was my actual view.)
