Worms

I have had a very interesting week...
in fact, if I really think back it started long before just a week ago.
This week was just the finale...
the amazing musical number they save for last...
Romeo dying,
the final set of fireworks on the Forth of July...
That was this week!
I'm not sure if I should think of it as a death,

...or a birth...

probably both.

Terry and I went to St. George with our friends and had such a great time. We went to see 'The Little Mermaid' and 'Grease' at the Tuachan Amphitheater. Both shows were amazing.
We had all day Saturday to play so we decided to visit a few of the historical sites, and of course, they all had to do with church history.
We visited the Brigham Young home, the Tabernacle, the Temple Visitor Center, and the Jacob Hamblin home. I was impressed with all of the tours and all of the sweet missionaries.
The story I want to tell you is the one the Sister told at the Brigham Young home.
She shared so much information with us, and then she told us that one of her favorite stories is of the Silkworm.

On the table in Brigham's office were several little trinkets,
one was a little jar of what appeared to be cotton balls, the size of a pecan.
The sister missionary picked up the jar and began...

...The early pioneers had silkworms sent from China, the little worms are totally dependant on humans for survival. They ate non stop for several years, until they reached puberty. Then they started to molt; to turn into moths.
They began to get little horns on their backs and sorta regurgitate everything they had eaten their whole life.
What comes out of their little worm bodies is silk. A very fine film of pure white silk. The silk forms a protective shield around their now vulnerable worm body.
When the pods begin to reach maximum maturity the Pioneer women would carefully take them off the Mulberry tree and put them in the pocket of their aprons. They would carry them around until they could feel movement, indicating that the transformation was complete and the little worm was now a moth.
Then they would drop the pod into boiling water.
The boiling water would kill the moth, the moth had to be killed or it would ruin the fragile fibers, and then the woman would unravel the silk.
Most pods produce approximately a mile of silk thread.

Then the thread would become whatever the woman wanted it to be.

I was so touched by the Silkworm story...
It sums up my dressbarn experience. I couldn't have heard the story at a better time. I believe it is Heavenly Father's way of helping me understand my life a little better.

Last week I was dropped into a pot of boiling water. I had done all I could as a worm. I had been forming the pod; cocoon, for a couple of years now and Heavenly Father didn't want me to turn into a moth...
...my mission is not to be a moth...
...my mission was also NOT to be the worm...
...my mission was to create silk...

And that is exactly what I did.

I have so many meaningful relationships that were developed over years of trust, tears, laughter and service.

The moth is dead...my dressbarn life is over.
All I have is the beautiful, pure white, fragile silk...

I get to choose what it will become.

I love my life.

I love you all.

Make it a great week.