April Showers: Hacked Leaf Blades

I'm crossposting week. I am a guest at DREAMWALKS a blog by Janet Lee Carey.  We have a conversation about Art and the Crucible that may relate to you.  Please check it out and take advantage of an opportunity to win free signed books from me and Janet.

I'm continuing my series called April Showers, and my post connects with the crucible post.  Last week, I went to a writing conference, and when I got home, I found that youngest son had edged the entire yard. Good stuff, right? It wasn't until the next day that I realized that he had hacked down my almost ready to bloom Louisiana Irises in the backyard.  These flowers grow in a corner along the fence and are one of the big spring shows I look forward to each year.

A gold-green pile of hacked leaf blades and flowers stalks was all that remained. Louisiana Iris have significant meaning for me. My mother was a hybridizer and won national awards for her work.  I also had a stand of Louisiana Iris as a child and traveled yearly to Baton Rouge to international flower shows to compete with my hybrids. I won awards, and it was the corner of loveliness in my childhood.

I stared at the hacked flowers and headed to my bedroom for a good cry.

The crucible of life was heating up, and the pressure was building.  I wanted to rail at my son because he had destroyed something that meant so much to me.  My husband stepped in and let me know that the Jack had asked if he should hack down the green stuff along the fence, and Tim assumed he meant the brush on the other side of the yard.  How could these two guys be so thoughtless?  Have you ever shook inside with anger? That's what I was feeling.

I began to walk the age-old journey of forgiveness.  It works like this for me. The people are more important than all the things, no matter how much the things meant to me. The irises will come up next year. It's a setback, not an ending. Choose love, choose forgiveness, even if no one but God understands how much this hurt. Finally, remember, the stuff that hurts is the water for your work. This kind of crucible moment is the cauldron of story.

Those gold-green hacked leaf blades will inform a story I have yet to write.  I know it.

I hope that this journey helps you on yours. I hope you embrace the water that comes to your life. Let it make you grow. I will be back next week with more April Showers.

Here is a doodle for you: Louisiana Iris.

Quote for your pocket comes from Godspell, "Day by Day,' by Stephen Schwartz.

Day by day, oh, dear
Lord, three things I pray
To see thee more clearly
Love thee more dearly
Follow thee more nearly, day by day