Some Big Lessons from a Tiny Moth

The other night, I stood with fascination at our bedroom window, watching the wind bend the trees and the jagged stripes of lightning light up the sky in the distance. Right before me, clinging with all of its might to the window screen was a tiny white moth.  The fragile, little creature's delicate wings billowed with the gusts and its entire body swayed, but it hung onto the screen with all of its might. I kept wishing that it would crawl higher up on the screen under the eave where I thought there would be better protection, but it stayed resolute, using all of its strength to cling to that vulnerable spot on the window screen. I finally walked away with worry that the little thing would finally let loose and be blown away with the storm. Yet, when I came back some 15 minutes later, the little white moth was still in the same spot, still hanging on for dear life. As I went to sleep that night, I thought of the lessons I had learned from that delicate, little moth. When you believe in something, stay firm in your convictions, relying on what you feel is right. When the storms of life blow you around, leaving you to feel pretty beaten up, stay strong and cling to your values. When things get tough, have faith. Some pretty big lessons from a tiny moth.

Please note that I'm making some changes to my blog schedule. Going forward, I am going to post once monthly at 4:00 p.m. Central Time on the first Sunday of each month. Thank you for your loyal readership.  

Winds of Change

It's been warm and breezy for the past few days.  With all of that breeze, I can't help but feel that we're experiencing the winds of change.  For one thing, it's a new month.  September brings a new school year, autumn, the harvest, fall color, warm days, refreshingly cool nights, and, if you're a fan, football.  Our local University of Wisconsin-Extension horticulturist Phyllis Both published a newspaper column recently in which she quoted George Santayana:  "To be interested in the changing seasons is a happier state of mind than to be hopelessly in love with spring."  And so I sit, in a happier state of mind, knowing that the winds of change are bringing about a new season, a new beginning, and a new way of being and thinking.  We'll take walks in the autumn sunshine, eat apples from Ski-Hi Fruit Farm, listen to and watch football games, load up on farmer's market produce, enjoy fall's breathtaking palette, and let go of summer, one day at a time.