Dandi Lion

Don’t you love going for a walk or hike, and you find something growing in the most unlikely places?

One of my favorite things to come across is an old, rotted stump with fresh, green new growth pushing up toward the sun. I love finding mushrooms on an old log. Daffodils blooming in spite of snow. Tender little ivy curls peeking through a mess of dead leaves.

That’s how this website/blog came about. I’ve been a writer on and off for years. Something that constantly works in the background of my mind, but seems to get stuck at one point or another.

It’s like the words will trickle for a time, then get corked up by some unknown force.

All at once, the floodgates have opened, and something in my soul has unlocked. I prayed for a scripture that would frame the Dandi Lion words as they flow, and echoes of a verse about old things being gone, and new things are now here. At first I told my brain it was drunk and needed to go home, because that didn’t seem to make sense for what I felt in my soul regarding Dandi Lion.

I looked up the verse, anyway.

2 Corinthians 5:17 NIV: “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!”

Oh, wait … that actually fits perfectly into this whole thing.

The thing about dandelions is that even when they “die”, they don’t become useless. While alive, they are used in teas and old-school medicines to help with inflammation and have antioxidants. But when they die, they become a white, ghostly little pillow on a stem that are lots of fun to blow away.

That’s not the end of the story, though … the little white seeds that you blow away have to land somewhere, and if you know anything about dandelions, they are STUBBORN SURVIVORS that will grow anywhere. In the cracks of sidewalks, in yards where the grass is dead and dry, in the mortar between bricks … Dandelions are tough little things that sprout everywhere.

So, really, that verse perfectly frames exactly what I have felt in my soul. I thanked the Holy Spirit for that lead and apologized for my initial reaction. Ha!

Here’s something I’m looking forward to posting here … Fiction short stories float around in my head alllll the time. And I wrote one yesterday that I’ll be posting here, soon, after it’s been posted elsewhere, first.

The “elsewhere” is a short story challenge I’ve joined. It’s a website created by author Mia Botha called Deadlines for Writers. You can join at any time, and the idea is to write a story based on the provided monthly prompt, and keeping the piece to the exact required wordcount. Once the writer posts his/her story, the writer is required to comment on four other stories. I’ve noticed the feedback is positive and encouraging, less like an editor’s critique, and at this point in my life, that’s exactly the kind of little boost I need.

January’s prompt is Glow, 1200 words in length.

I wrote the thing with a vague idea in mind, started creating, and it’s like it took a life of its own.

That’s why I LOVE writing short stories. They always start out as a thread of an idea, and once I pull on it and follow the trail, it leads me on a grand adventure.

Wanna try it with me?

Thanks for reading.

Peace. Love. Breathe.