"Just like the butterfly, I too will awaken in my own time." ~ Deborah Chaskin

A little later than I had hoped, but with transition comes the challenges that puts us to the test.......our challenge for today?......Acceptance. This is what we as a family have decided to work on together. Accepting all that is that we have no power to change. Accepting all that is that we do have the power to change. Accepting that all we can do is always right in front of us......not behind us or ahead of us.

Today we created our Lenten Journey calendar. I found an idea similar to this and thought it would be wonderful to create our variation on the theme. The idea behind the calendar is 'transformation'. We used the butterfly as our visual support. From a simple caterpillar to the graceful butterfly......transformation is a fluid transition from one physical form to another. I know we won't physically change from human to something else, but our emotional form and spiritual form will. It is our hope that through these next 40 days we as a family will build a stronger foundation for our spiritual growth together. We will come together in prayer, fasting, and giving to build up our lives together. We have a pretty great life. Simple, honest, joyful, abundant.......we are very blessed in this lifetime to be so fortunate as to have each other to be with and celebrate this life with. We also understand that we are given this one life to live. We have this one chance as these six people together to make a difference, to transform to a higher form of ourselves, to understand more fully that which makes it all worth while, to be closer to our Higher Power. The butterfly symbolizes all of those things. The journey we will take on these 40 days will meander and wander all over.....this is why the path our caterpillars will follow is not straight......it curves and swerves all over. There will be ups and downs and forward steps and back steps but ALL the steps will eventually lead us to where we hope to be........together in Unity with our God of choice and each other.

If you, too, would like to make a similar calendar to help guide you and your family through the 40 days of Lent, all you need is some paper, crayons, and the will to transform. Give a title to your poster, we used 'Our Lenten Journey'......



......draw a meandering path around the page, however you feel moved to draw it.



Make 40 leaf shapes to attach to the path. These can be labeled each day with a thought for the day, a prayer, mantra, what it is you hope to transform within yourself (acceptance, forgiveness, honesty, friendship). Then, make 40 caterpillars to represent the emotion that comes with the words on your leaf. Whatever it is you feel when you think about the word, hear the word. These two things will bring a visual to the transformation at work within you. Attach each caterpillar to the leaf at the end of the day.



Create a big butterfly to attach to the end of the path on the opposite end you start on, this signifies the full transformation. On the night before Easter, give wings to each of the caterpillars and hang them around the calendar so on Easter morning everyone can see and celebrate the transformations of the caterpillars and within.



As a child I yearned for a closeness with God and my family. I'm so honored that I have been given the ability to open my heart and to share my life with a partner who, too, is open, so that we can raise up our children together, in the Light. I am proud that we are not afraid of the honesty and grace that comes with wanting to know more, be more, give more. I am proud that we are open, together, to love more, accept more, and forgive more.



Wishing you Grace in your transformation and all the love your heart can handle!