{"id":7501,"date":"2013-10-09T21:07:52","date_gmt":"2013-10-09T21:07:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/?p=1245"},"modified":"2013-10-09T21:07:52","modified_gmt":"2013-10-09T21:07:52","slug":"the-wounded-butterfly","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/?p=7501","title":{"rendered":"The Wounded Butterfly"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"1376422219995\"<\/a>Recently I was near Spring Green at my writing mentor\u2019s home walking a labyrinth in a beautiful meadow when I noticed a butterfly feeding from a bee balm.\u00a0 As I watched her I could see that she was missing a portion of her wing on the lower right hand side.\u00a0 Despite this \u201cwounding\u201d the butterfly easily moved from flower to flower seeking nectar.\u00a0 Though we might have considered her handicapped, she flew off without any hint of disability.\u00a0 Clearly, this imperfection did not keep her from enjoying the sweetness of life.<\/p>\n

I was inspired to write about this beautiful creature and was disappointed that I didn\u2019t have my camera with me.\u00a0 Later, after lunch, I decided to walk the labyrinth again with camera in hand and call the butterfly to me for a photo op.\u00a0 I stood before the path and centered \"1376421407909\"<\/a>myself, focused on my heart center and brought the image of the butterfly into my awareness.\u00a0 In my mind I asked the butterfly to please come back to where I was so I could get a photograph. \u00a0When she didn\u2019t show up immediately (yeah, I expect that sort of thing) I began walking the path staying present to all that was around me.\u00a0 I had hoped the butterfly would come quickly but apparently I needed to walk the entire labyrinth again.\u00a0 As I neared the center, I spotted her just to my left.\u00a0 She was feeding on a bee balm that bent over the path.\u00a0 I readied my camera and took some photos\u2026quite sure that I captured a view with the missing piece of wing.\u00a0 As it turns out, the image wasn\u2019t quite as revealing as I had hoped. \u00a0Just the same, I was grateful the butterfly had accommodated my wishes.<\/p>\n

As I returned to the house where other writers were gathered, a woman asked to see the photo of the butterfly.\u00a0 She shared that earlier on her walk she also saw a wounded butterfly.\u00a0 Although she had seen a Monarch, and mine was not, it was interesting to realize there were other wounded butterflies feeding in the fields.<\/p>\n

I have always believed the ability to fly is dependent upon perfect aerodynamics.\u00a0 \u00a0I expect this ability would be destroyed by a missing piece of wing.\u00a0 And yet, this butterfly moved without any visible problems.\u00a0 She and other butterflies were flying in the face of the science that would say this impossible.<\/p>\n

So often we think of our differences or imperfections as handicaps or wounding.\u00a0\u00a0 We see ourselves as less than perfect, somehow invalid\u2026or as an invalid.\u00a0 The truth is that our differences and imperfections \u00a0are what set us apart from others, what make us unique and beautiful.\u00a0 When we can embrace our whole selves including aspects that might be judged as less than perfect, we find peace.\u00a0 We find a love that transcends all others.\u00a0 A love of self.<\/p>\n

To the butterfly, there was no wounding; no disability.\u00a0 She was never told that it is impossible to fly with a broken wing. She had only her desire to take in the sweet nectar of the flowers and let nothing stop her.\u00a0 She is my Shero.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Recently I was near Spring Green at my writing mentor\u2019s home walking a labyrinth in a beautiful meadow when I noticed a butterfly feeding from a bee balm.\u00a0 As I watched her I could see that she was missing a portion of her wing on the lower right hand side.\u00a0 Despite this \u201cwounding\u201d the butterfly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7501","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-uncategorized","entry","has-post-thumbnail","gs-1","gs-odd","gs-even","gs-featured-content-entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7501","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7501"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7501\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wendywolfe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}