AND THE BUTTERFLY BROUGHT THE MESSAGE.....

When we learn to say a deep, passionate yes to the things that really matter, then peace begins to settle onto our lives like golden sunlight sifting to a forest floor. Thomas Kinkade

Yesterday, I was walking into the place where I spend a majority of my time earning a paycheck to pay the bills and allow me to play.

I was deep in thought about some issues I'd been wrestling with--mainly those damn old tapes that play over and over in my southern head.  YOU--did it all wrong.  You--are too nice.  You---should've....   I could almost hear myself saying to myself...

Why Bless my little Southern heart!!!

and

Suddenly without rhyme or reason

in the midst of a gray cloudy morning

something inside me flipped

flipped on myself

and

said,

"Stop"

you are doing the best you can

now 

do something different

.....

Transform

...

I said to myself

but it is hard work

and

I'm tired.

....

I said to myself,

Just do it

be willing to change

....

Just as I finished talking to myself about myself

something stopped me dead in my tracks.

I saw something sticking up

on the ground so i stopped to look.

There in front of me 

right at the moment i needed to see it

was 

an Eastern Swallowtail Butterfly...all closed up....sort of like me.

I thought it was dead so I bent down

even though I thought I might be late to work

and

I looked.

it did not move

so 

I touched it

ever so slightly

and

when I did

...

it happened...

right before my eyes..

this closed up

entity

opened up

opened up to reveal 

spectacular beauty

yellow and black

mixed together opening so gracefully

i stood in awe as if I 

was standing 

right before the 

Creator ITSELF

stood in a moment of sacred silence

and

as it stood still

all opened up for me to see

I think I heard 

from somewhere 

either out there or inside

the 

whisper that said,

"go on.........change."

....

I smiled

paid homage to

the sender of 

a message I needed

and

walked on my way.

....

Today

I'm thankful for the way

we are given subtle and startling messages

that speak to us

intimately 

...

thankful

for my morning 

wakeup call to live

and

grow and transform

........

thankful for a moment on Holy Ground

...

this morning

thankful for the cool breeze,

the birds singing,

hot coffee with hazelnut cream

and

for 

peace

in my heart

that

it really is

okay

to change and be!!!

May it be so...

Have a Great Tuesday...

The radical rambler

Off Color Birthday Week............

“I think that the best kind of change, is the change that comes from the inside and begins it's way out until it emerges on the outside; a change that is born underneath then continues and spreads until it has reached the surface. That's a true change. A powerful change. And I have found that while we are emerging, changing into something glorious; it is actually us becoming who we really are. A water lily is born underneath the water, inside the soil at the bottom of the river or lake. And the water lily has always been a water lily for that whole time that it was sprouting out of the wet soil, reaching up through the dark water towards the sunlight, stretching and grasping for the surface; where it then buds and blooms on the outside in the sunshine. It doesn't bud and bloom on the surface and then try to reach down below into the soil.”
― C. JoyBell C.

Tuesday morning brings a rather normal feel to the "off color" household.  Glitzy dog is running around snorting with his big bone stuck between his teeth, looking for a person on which to leave his slobber or else convince them to stop what they are doing and play. 

He's growing out of his eat everything stage or else his compulsion to have us like him has actually started him toward better dog behavior.  "Off color daughter" celebrated her 17th birthday yesterday--- so for three days both our off color kids will be the same age.   "Off color son" turns 18 on Thursday and just like you hear all those "other" parents saying....."where did the time go".

Everyone is now safely home from their travels.  They returned home late...very late on Friday evening. We picked "off color daughter" at the airport late on Friday--it was probably the latest Big Daddy and I have been up in years.  We tried to be subtle in our excitement to see her, but the sign saying, Pick up for Princess "M" gave it away.  It was past midnight when we got home and even later when we got to sleep since we had to hear about all the "off color children's spring break adventures".  

"Off color daughter" spent her week in China, touring and absorbing the culture.  She took some great pictures, visited the  great wall, temples, marketplaces, saw people and collected story upon story.  We still haven't heard them all because she is jet lagged.  "Off Color Son" returned from a relaxing vacation with his friends at Panama City Beach.  He said, "I just took some time to relax and think."  He for sure is growing up.  Big Daddy and I enjoyed some quiet time while they were gone and if I remember correctly, I believe one night we went to bed at five because we didn't feel well----and went to sleep---we are for sure getting old.

I look at my children and am thankful. I'm thankful for laughter and long discussions.  I'm thankful for two little ones who taught me more theology than any class I ever took in seminary. 

They have taught Big Daddy and I the depths of off color love teaching us about laughter, celebration,  mercy, grace and forgiveness.  They are the best of off our off color genes!!!

This morning, as the birds sing their morning song,

as the breeze blows through the window I just opened behind me,

as the sun starts to raise her shade,

I sit here in my little off color abode, 

Big Daddy Boo Boo sitting to my left,

glitzy dog jabbing his nasty bone in my side,

off color children still snoring a bit

and

I realize

Life is more than pretty damn good

and

I--sexy hot mama that I am-- am blessed

so blessed

to live in 

our 

little

"off color world."

The best kind of life is the "off color kind".

Happy birthday week off color kids!!!

"Heart you both to the moon and back!"

Keep on Blooming!!!

NEWS ALERT:  Big Daddy gave off color daughter his car for her birthday--no ghetto van/Big Bertha (he decided he was afraid for her to drive it)  Off Color daughter now is styling and 

Big Daddy...well Big Daddy is trying to figure out how to get all those radical liberal stickers off the back of his new ride.

Be a great day!!!!

the radical rambler