Aunt Lynn - My Favorite Butterfly

For several months now I have been making notes to do posts in honor of my Aunt Lynn's birthday this year.  The posts are about what I call Butterfly people.  Lynn taught me to recognize butterfly people.   Butterfly people are first and foremost those people who are transformed by their relationship to God and His work of grace in their lives through Jesus Christ.  These are the people who take Him at His word and do likewise. But not only are their lives transformed, the grace they bring to the lives of others is contagious and, if we are lucky, is part of our own transformation. 

Lynn is my first and favorite butterfly person.  The picture on the right is from my visit to her home in Iowa for several weeks during the summer -- many years ago.  She is kneeling the front with her brother-in-law, sister, brother, and sister-in-law standing behind her.  For just a couple of days all of our visits overlapped.  Her son, Gary, painted her house that summer while I was there before he left on one of his world travels.  Gary came to Omaha and picked me up at the bus station.  Her first grandchild, Wes was born that spring just before I came to visit.  Lynn took me to the Iowa state fair where a radio station interviewed me to tell about the great quilts, and livestock, and fun to be had at the fair.  I was very shy and I'm not sure the man got me to say much except it was a lot of fun and I liked Iowa.  In addition to the state fair, we visited the Earl May trial gardens with a huge bed of flowers laid out like an American flag. 

Uncle Bill, the Reverend Bill Taylor, preached at Aunt Lynn's church while he was there.  I remember a fly buzzing around his head, but he is not distracted when he talks about God.  That afternoon, he took me along on a drive to see the farmland in the area and he preached and drove, and drove and preached, and everything in site just became part of his sermon.  We stopped at a small cemetery where a headstone said "Pray for him" under the name of a young man who died too soon.  Bill explained with great clarity that we don't need to pray for him now and proceeded to explain why all the way back to Lynn's house.  It was a really good sermon.  I love Bill's love for God and I am grateful for his influence in me and the whole family.

Lynn watering her garden

Lynn has a patio with a porch swing at her back door that allows her to look out to her flower garden a few steps from the porch.  A small white fence with a gate facing the porch.  A small piece of heaven under a huge tree for shade and complete with birdbaths and a windmill. 

I loved visiting her home, especially when I got to sleep in the front bedroom with lace doilies on the side table and sheets with little yellow flowers.  Quiet, peaceful times in Iowa with Aunt Lynn.  You wonder how we make life so complicated. 

The city built a small butterfly pavilion in the town where she lives several years ago.  On the last few visits to see her, the butterfly pavilion has been on the list of things to go and see and spend some time with what else but flowers and butterflies.  For such a small space, you can spend a great deal of time there looking at the smallest details of all the different butterflies.   I guess it's better than putting them all by themselves in a jar. 

Lynn also came to visit me  when I lived in the Washington D.C. area along with her sister Vida and Vida's husband Kenny.  We traveled around Washington D.C., Valley Forge, Pa., Gettysburg, PA., Monticello, VA., and even Philadelphia, PA and the home of Benjamin Franklin.  They stayed for a few weeks and came just after I moved there.  The three of them toured museums and monuments during the weekdays and we traveled around together on evenings and weekends.  They are all great travel companions and easy going.  We had a great time and I loved the time I spent with them on that visit and every other visit.

Along the way, I met some of the butterflies in Lynn's life.  I hope to tell you more about them in the days ahead.  What a great influence it is to have someone who sees people and enjoys them for who they are and who God has made them to be.  Lynn is a beautiful butterfly in my life.

Welcome to Grace Minutes

I read a poem many years ago by Helen Steiner Rice that was called Moments of Awareness. It was a small gift book and although I can't really remember all of the poem, the idea has stuck with me all these years about how we have moments where we are overwhelmingly aware of God, a bigger world, a sense of peace, or a sense of contentment.    For just a few moments we seem happy or at least satisfied that where we are is an OK place to be.  It doesn't mean there are no problems or concerns.  It may mean that this moment is especially tender because of an awareness of God's presence and nearness.  It may mean that this moment is endurable because our perspective has been changed somehow.

I remember that poem off and on when I have moments of the realization of God's grace in the midst of my day and my life or the lives of those around me.   That's why I think if them as Grace Minutes - moments where I am aware in some way of God's grace for the current moment.

These moments have also been described in the Celtic tradition as Thin Places.   Thin Places are moments in life when we are aware that the separation between heaven and earth is very thin and we have a sense that that we can almost touch heaven from where we are standing both physically and in our hearts. We know God is near.

Most of us struggle to figure out why these are just minutes and why we can't accumulate these minutes and spend our lives in happy ever after perspectives.  Why does it seem elusive? God doesn't seem to want to be elusive to us.  Why do we forget He is near?  Why are there times when we don't sense the grace of His presence nearby?  It is a fallen and broken world we live in, but it is a world that God created and leads us through for our good, His purpose and His glory.  He is always near and always present.  We can know that to be true of His nature all the time because we know Him by His word that tells us that.  But we live in a fallen world of imperfection and are not capable of that constant awareness, so we relish the moments and in that process we experience more and more moments as we draw closer to Him.

Since God is always near, it would seem we should always be looking for Him in every moment and circumstance.  My constant question has become 'Where is grace in this picture?' and 'What does grace look like here?'   I can't often see grace but I do want to always look for it.  This is not a settling for finding some good in everything.  Although I wish sometimes I was like Pollyanna and saw good in everything and everyone, I know there is not good in all things or unfortunately not in everyone.   This looking is an intentional and joyful search to know God more in every area of my life and my surroundings.  Sometimes I find myself looking for what I missed in a situation that is past and sometimes I am looking for what it is I should be doing in a current situation to choose grace and receive it. 

I hope you will share your own moments of awareness and grace along the way.