Butterflies

Butterflies

Any lampworker who takes part in the Beads of Courage program will tell you that the Butterfly Beads are the hardest to make - not for the skill involved but for why we make them - what they mean.

Any parent who has received a Butterfly Bead will tell you that they are both the hardest bead to receive and the most precious as well...

I've been thinking of butterflies a lot lately. I've been thinking of all of the children that I worked on when I worked at the hospital, all of the parents, and of my own parents - two dead and one very precious, strong woman that I watch die a little every day.

Butterflies and sailing ships....

My sister sent a poem to me when our mom died and it's been on my mind a lot lately - that and butterflies.

Anyone who has trouble making the butterflies or who has received them (in any form), this may help....

 

What is dying? A ship sails and I stand watching till she fades on the horizon, and someone at my side says, "She is gone". Gone where? Gone from my sight, that is all; she is just as large as when I saw her... the diminished size and total loss of sight is in me, not in her, and just at the moment when someone at my side says "she is gone", there are others who are watching her coming, and other voices take up the glad shout,  "there she comes!" ...and that is dying.

-- Bishop Charles Henry Brent --