Saturday, May 3, 2025

TOO BUSY

 On a walk the other day…as a flower garden I happened by

I stopped to watch…then have a conversation with a pretty butterfly.


“Do you ever worry, as I do?” I asked that pretty butterfly,

“about the world we are creating?”

“I haven’t got the time to worry.” She smiled as she flitted from flower to flower 

“I’m much too busy pollinating.”


“Do you ever worry about your size…about how small and insignificant you are?

“Never!” She smiled, “because in the insect world I’m known as a star.”


“Yes, much like you I started out small but once my metamorphosis was done…

I came out feeling great

because I know I’ve been given a gift…and my gift is to pollinate.”


“You are so beautiful and graceful.” I said, “in every thing you do.”

“Do you ever worry that other butterflies are more graceful or more beautiful than you?”


“All butterflies are beautiful and graceful.” She said.

“All butterflies are my sisters and my brothers.”

“And it doesn’t matter if one of us is more beautiful 

or more graceful than the other.”


“Our time on Earth is fleeting…we have an extremely short life-span

while we’re here we’re much too busy sharing our gift with as many flowers as we can.”


“So you don’t worry about anything?” I asked. 

Immediately a smile lit up her face.

“I do not.” She answered. 

“I’m much too busy trying to make my world a better place.”


“It was nice talking with you.” She said. “But I have to go now

because in the short time I have…in the world I’m helping to create…

I have a lot more gardens to visit…a lot more flowers to pollinate.”


As I watched her flutter off to another garden…watched her float across the sky

I wondered what our world would be like if we were more like that butterfly.


More interested in sharing with others…in giving unconditionally….

and it made me wonder who was more blessed in life…

that butterfly…or me.


Friday, May 2, 2025

DAILY GRATITUDE WORDS OF LOVE

 

Today I’m grateful that from my mouth

I have the ability to whisper words of love…

to tell people how much I love them…how much I care..

to tell them how much they mean to me…

before the day I reach for them…

and find they are not there.

WORDS OF LOVE

 

May we be blessed to use words of love when we speak

not only for their beauty and appeal….

but words of love have this wonderful ability to help a body mend

and a heart and mind to heal.

PROTECTOR NOT PROTESTER

 

We attended a peaceful protest yesterday…but that word protest…I must reject it…

because, in our minds, we are not protesting our American Democracy…

we are trying to protect it.


Standing on the corner, holding our posters we wanted our message spread.

Some people beeped their horns and waved as they drove by…or when the light was red. 


While other people driving by or stopped at the light vehemently protested….

They called us names, gave us the finger and yelled,

“You should have your fat #@&$#’s arrested.”


One group saw democracy in action…in the other anger was ignited…

proving, if the election didn’t already, that our states are anything but united.


That same evening we attended a concert…billed as a mystery concert

meaning the performer was a surprise……

It turned out to be a band from Australia and Jamaica …their name is Natalie Rize. 


Their music was filled with messages of unity and hope and liberation….

They sang about how, on the school of Earth, 

we need to learn we are one love, one family…one human nation.


They talked of accepting everyone for who they are and before the concert ended

they sang how tomorrow will be a better day if we all used the word LOVE…

as a verb…the way it was intended.


I was moved by their music and thought back to standing on that street corner…

as we were about to leave…

and I thought it’s an easier message to sing about…than it will be to achieve


But if something you cherish is not working…you don’t immediately throw it out the door

you work to find a way to fix it…so it works better than before.


And the only way to fix it…to protect our democracy…

to ensure the rights of every human are not diminished or completely cease…

as Natalie Rize might sing it…is piece…by piece…by peace.


So the next time you see us standing on a street corner holding a poster…

think of our mission…and please…don’t immediately reject it…

remember we’re not protesting our American Democracy…

we are trying to protect it.


Thursday, May 1, 2025

WHERE MY RICHES CAN BE FOUND

 

I am grateful every day…to see my friends and family

as I look around…

for it is within my friends and family

where all my riches can be found.


BEING RICH

 

May we be blessed to understand 

when with money we are bewitched…

There is a difference between earning a great deal of money

and actually being rich.


AS RICH AS I CAN BE

 

They were sitting in the afternoon sun …in a field of flowers atop a little rise…

when the daughter asked a question which took her mother by surprise.


“Are we rich or poor?” The daughter asked… 

“This girl at school, Elizabeth, …she swore…

that since I don’t wear the nicest clothes…our family must be poor.”


“The answer’s not that easy.” Mom said…

“That settles it the daughter cried…we’re poor…I guess I kind of knew it…

“As I say, rich or poor is not that easy to decide.” Mom smiled

“It depends on how you view it.”


“Rich isn’t always about money…that’s looking at life in only one way.

If we had all the money in the world…

would these flowers be any more beautiful than they are today.


“Would the birds sound any different if we wore the finest clothes? 

Would those clouds be any whiter?

Would the breeze smell any sweeter?

Would the sun shine any brighter?”


“We don’t need money to love a sunset…to marvel at a sky so blue

and no amount of money in the world 

could ever change how much that I love you…”


“Money can bring you many things in life.” Mom said

as she stared deep into her daughter’s eyes… 

but there are many more important things

that money cannot buy.”


“What are you going to say to Elizabeth today.” 

Her mom asked the next morning as her daughter greeted the morning flowers, 

smiled at the sun and waved to the waves of the sea…

Her daughter thought for a moment then smiled…

I think I’ll tell Elizabeth…

I hope someday…she’ll be as rich as me.”