Black Swallowtail

The caterpillar,

Interesting but not exactly lovely,

Humped along among the parley leaves

Eating, always eating.  Then

One night it was gone and in its place

A small green confinement hung by two silk threads

On a parsley stem. I think it took nothing with it

Except faith, and patience.  And then one morning

It expressed itself into the most beautiful being.

This morning began gray with tinges of pink pulling the sun up from its slumber.  I see this out my window as I awoke with M&M dust near my pillow. It happened like this. 

Yesterday was the first day of the annual symposium of the Mesoamerican Society of Biology and Conservation held in Costa Rica this year. All day long there were wonderful refreshments laid out before us and last night was a lovely dinner that had lightly seasoned vegetables and beans that were my favorite.  So happy was I with the chance to be with friends as we celebrated our work of protecting species and habitats in Central America, I had seconds, and then came back to my hotel room to enjoy the chocolate delights in my mini bar.  I am a caterpillar for sure, always eating.

So what do I do this morning?  Do I awake with regrets of the follies of the day before?  I imagine that all of us have gone to bed wondering about our behavior and decisions of the day.  There we try to work out meaning and how to lessen pain and confusion as we toss and turn under our sheets that seem to smother us in our endless cognitive loops that tell stories of being not quite good enough (or assigning this category to others).

What if these sheets were more cocoon-like?  Holding us in love as we metamorphise our faith in love and interconnection into creative possibilities?  What if we go to bed with the mantra that we are indeed not good enough and also more than good enough, for we are neither and both.  We are caterpillar and ugly duckling, and we are butterfly and elegant swan too. 

What if life really is this simple – that we have only one choice to make today and that is whether to  look out our doors this morning and up to the sky or meet someone eye to eye, and ponder how we might express our most beautiful being?  Hey, let’s make it even simpler.  Let’s just do it!

Perhaps you feel like you are too much in a cocoon today and not ready?  No matter.  For you wait not alone.  With all our assent, wrap yourself in faith and patience, for tomorrow is another day.

                                                 

What are you gestating today?  What is your cocoon?