Opening to the New

As I thought about what I might be opening to, I was reminded of an experience I had early last summer.  I was outside in my garden, when something flopped onto my hand.  I looked down, and there on my hand was a monarch butterfly.  It had newly left its chrysalis because its wings were heavy and damp.  I was so amazed when it landed on me, that I immediately sat down.  It stayed on my hand for over an hour, drying its wings in the sun, with liquid seeping from its body so that it could shrink down and become light enough to fly.  After some more time, I coaxed it onto a nearby jasmine plant.  I was able to take several pictures of it before it took a brief flight out to the wall.  It basked in the sun for an hour or so more, and then it was gone.  I was in awe that I had gotten to witness the intimacy of this new life beginning.  Life is such a gift.  Which feels like the essence of this quote I wanted to share:

"Choose life--only that, and always--and at whatever risk.  To let life leak out, to let it wear away by the mere passage of time, to withhold giving it and spreading it, is to choose nothing."

                                          -Author Unknown