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Our creation was for the purpose of fellowship – walk with God – an early monastic, Brother Lawrence, called it “Practicing the Presence of God”.

The Lenten time of year is a time of reflection on the part of all of us on our walk with God. Our walk with God is reflected in the past, present, and future of our daily lives as well as eternity.

In the crucifixion of Christ our past is redeemed, our sins are forgiven, and our worth as individuals verified. God believes we are worth every effort. He is willing to be with us in our troubles, or illness, and our failures.

In the resurrection of Christ, after 3 days in the tomb, He has promised His presence with us forever. He can promise the meaning of life in the very present through his transformation of our lives and the resurrection of His spirit in our characters. He can bring a sweetness and meaning to everyday life no one or anything else can do.

In the future, our resurrection will be like His – an eternal spirit and life in the Kingdom of God. After death, life goes on in the promised Kingdom of God, waiting until the resurrection of all to dwell with God eternally after His Second Advent (second coming).

I’ve noticed through the years that fall and early winter are the favorite times of the year for many people. Perhaps it’s because the seasons have such drastic changes or that our favorite holidays occur during that time. I think that another reason we love this time of the year is that there is a sequence to the seasons that helps us catch our balance from all the chaos, difficulty, grief and labor from the past year. Once October arrives, the sequence of four holidays speeds by – Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year. As we celebrate them the variety of ways we do, we at the same time rebalance our lives. At Halloween, whether we celebrate it or not, we still balance our sense of will (freedom & discipline) in our lives by the very choosing to celebrate or not. We exercise our sense of competence by balancing the cultural with the eternal. The believing in the fact of evil paralleling good is an axiom of life. We willfully and competently choose how we live and what we believe. Thanksgiving – that uniquely American holiday, is a time of sharing love and care for family and friends – to reach out to each other and give of ourselves. Christmas and the incarnation of God in man, the wisdom of God in calling us to Himself so that in faith we may become new and forgiven, and then do his work and will. And New Year – a time to begin again with new purpose and the hope that this New Year will be filled with His grace and mercy as we face a new year of challenges and choices, both good and bad. God walk with us and help us catch our balance in the sequence of the seasons.

Ever wonder what it takes to grow a hobby into a successful career, in a brand new industry? Throw in the uncontrollable challenges of nature, weather… and thousands of living creatures and you will find Jacob Goth’s Swallowtail Farms.

Swallowtail Farms began as a hobby between Jacob and a close friend, but eventually grew into an incorporated business with employees and national distribution. He says he didn’t choose to grow butterflies for a living, the career chose him!

“Great sacrifices had to be made in those start-up years. There were many trials and errors since we were the first company to start in this new industry. We didn’t have a model to follow. This posed great challenges for us, but also great rewards in the end. I’ll never regret heading down this path which God chose for me.”

The greatest challenges are things beyond human control – nature and weather. Agriculture is very weather dependent and the butterflies have their own unique requirements as insects. “We can do everything right and have a great batch of thousands of fresh butterflies stocked in our flight house and then the county will have an ‘unannounced’ round of insecticide
helicopter sprayings during mosquito season. These events are great for reducing the mosquito population, but bad for butterflies!”

Jacob shares the many beautiful aspects of butterfly farming – greenhouses filled with rows of fresh sub-tropical milkweed growing vibrantly, butterfly hatching labs with newly hatched caterpillars, the size of a pencil tip, munching away on milkweed plants.

“That one plant may contain up to 5,000 caterpillars, which will devour the plant within hours.”

Or the flight house which is the final stop for the monarch butterflies before they are packed and sent to release events like the Home Hospice Butterfly Release & Family Celebrations.

But, Jacob says his favorite part of the job is receiving letters, pictures or cards from customers who were greatly moved by their experiences with the butterflies.

“There are not many products out there that create such a wonderfully joyful experience as the butterfly release. Many tears of joy have been shed from the experience of releasing our butterflies, especially at a funeral or a memorial service. I’m so thankful to be a part of that and I cherish each and every note I get back from my customers.”

Jacob says with God’s grace, they’ll be growing butterflies for many more years to come. That’s great news for those of us who will be holding one of those amazing creatures as we honor our loved ones this year!

Visit www.swallowtailfarms.com

What inspires you to keep doing what you do?

As for your deep and profound question – hmm. I guess I haven’t really thought about it that much. It’s just what I do and what I have been doing for the last 20 years.

But, putting some thought into it, I’d say there are multiple reasons. The first is the obvious one – I’ve got bills to pay and a family to feed! But that doesn’t really answer the heart of your question. I have an MBA degree and so there were a lot of options for me in the earlier years to go multiple directions career-wise. Yet I chose to do this. There’s something about this business that is extremely fulfilling yet at times very challenging and frustrating. I guess you can say it’s a lot like a marriage!

I enjoy the fact that our product sells itself. We don’t need to ‘sell’ butterflies. We just have to make sure we do the best we can do for our customers and make sure that we deliver on our promises. But, there’s no push selling and in fact we often turn away customers because we believe the experience might not go well (if it’s too cold, for example). People are surprised when we actually tell them it wouldn’t be right to sell them butterflies.

I love the fact that our product makes people happy and brings great joy. There aren’t a lot of industries or companies that get the privilege of receiving so many kind notes and pictures from our customers. It’s very rewarding.

Although the challenge of working with living creatures (both plants and butterflies) can be overwhelming and impossible at times, it’s a wonderful thing to constantly be around butterflies and witnesses these amazing creatures. I admit I take it for granted way too much and hope that I would appreciate this business more than I do. It’s easy to focus on the negative. So, I appreciate the fact that you asked the question and caused me to be reminded of the great privilege I have.

“Families are forever” – We often hear that phrase or read it.  As we age or “mature” as some say, the phrase begins to mean more.  Part of the meaning is found in the reality that family are often the ones who “when you come to them, have to take you in,” as the poets say.  But another reason is that when we celebrate Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, July 4^th, Memorial Day and the summertime, we are reminded of a legacy, a heritage that remains long after our loved ones go to the Kingdom of God.  Families are forever even if there is much to forgive and much to endure.  I was told a story of a man whose sister he had not seen for much of his life.  Circumstances and life situations separated them.  Then after a long search they were reunited and a great joy permeated both of their lives until the end of them.  Even though we get to choose our friends, families are forever.  Each year we are given a whole month (amid months)… Mother’s Day through Father’s Day, to celebrate the significance of families. Friends are changing, acquaintances are serendipitous; but families are forever.

February is the month of love – a time for Valentine’s Day and remembering love – emphasizing the importance of love in our lives.It’s not very unusual for us to fail to put 2 & 2 together, but love and grief are intimately related.  You can’t have one without the other.  You do not grieve unless you love and the risk of love involves the inevitability of grief.  We should remember this relationship.  It will help us to be able to grieve more purposefully when we realize its source is love.  It will help us to love more fully when we realize that love will result in grief and yet the eternity of love is found in our grief and remembering forever.  When we love, we never forget and we are able to imagine the idea of eternity and life everlasting.  The double-sided coin of grief and love are the two elements of understanding Eternity and Everlasting life – neither exists without love and its counterpart grief.

This year in February, we celebrate 50 years of the introduction of the Beatles to America.  Their legacy is their songs of love.  One particular song touches this two sided coin –

In My Life
(McCartney/Lennon)

Though I know I’ll never lose affection
For people and things that went before.
I know I’ll often stop and think about them,
In my life I love you more.

In my life I love you more

This isn’t a typical love story… in so far as the boy meets girl, boy falls in love with a promise of eternity together. But I feel the need to share it – I love my job. I love our volunteers. I love making a difference every day. This story includes all the good stuff…

Last week I was honored to visit a local nursing facility with one of our Patient Paws teams – Linda & her miniature poodle Raffiki. Now Rafi probably weighs 10 pounds including her downy white fur. When we placed her in the lap of one our patients I fell in love again. Not with any one person, but with the ability to communicate love and trust without a single sound. Witnessing our patient wrap her arms around that little ball of fur…   She sat straighter in her chair. Her eyes sparkled. That dog seemed to lick every little booger out of our patient’s nostrils. That short moment stirred so many emotions for each of us there.  This Valentine’s Day I hope we take the time to make a difference.

There’s no request too big or small
We give ourselves, we give our all
Love isn’t someplace that we fall
It’s something that we do.

CDC reports indicate influenza activity is still going strong; Texas ranks the second highest in reported cases.  If you haven’t gotten a flu shot, experts ask you to do so… If you are amongst the many that fear getting the shot will give them the flu – they agree it is not the case.  The flu vaccine is a dead-virus. It may take up to two weeks for the vaccine to kick in.

If you are exposed to the virus, experts say it may take up to a week for the flu virus to really affect our bodies. After that you will see the following signs:

• Fever with body temperature 100 degrees Fahrenheit or more
• Common respiratory problems such as cold and cough
• Clogged and runny nose
• Migraine accompanied by muscle pains
• Vomiting
• Diarrhea
• Chills and Fatigue

The usual first sign is the respiratory problems which can be cough then cold or the opposite. This can then be treated by common flu medications like BioFlu, Tamiflu and Relenza. These are good drugs that will help deal with flu at the early stage.

Here are EMERGENCY warning signs:

In children:

• Fast breathing or trouble breathing
• Bluish skin color
• Not drinking enough fluids
• Not waking up or not interacting
• Being so irritable that the child does not want to be held
• Flu-like symptoms improve but then return with fever and worse cough
• Fever with a rash

In adults:

• Difficulty breathing or shortness of breath
• Pain or pressure in the chest or abdomen
• Sudden dizziness
• Confusion
• Severe or persistent vomiting

For more information, visit http://www.cdc.gov/flu.