During the ill-fated Somalia peacekeeping inititive “Blackhawk down” entered the lexicon. The loss of the helicopter and crew to brutal death shocked Americans and the peacekeeping soon ended. Good intentions and hopes died in the downed Blackhawk.

The photo below is entitled Butterfly Down and it evokes in me the loss of hopes and dreams. We have fantasies of what life will be and how it will turn out. We have in our minds expectations of what we will be and what we will possess. The Butterfly fliting from flower to flower with grace and apparent lightness of being is a good symbol of our beloved ethereal fantastical expectations of our life.

Eventually we will hear the breaking news — Butterfly Down! Our cherished expectations have crashed and burned. What are we to do? We can of course become bitter (see July 24-25 Thing That Test All) or we can do something counter-intuitive and mature. we give up our downed expectations and learn to live not with expectations but rather expectantly knowing that whatever happens by grace we can face it and something good can come from it. We can move from rigidity and fear to supple flexibility and joy. Living with expectancy allows us to survive Butterfly Down.