Ms. Fancy Dress

Ms. Fancy Dress

Here comes Ms. Fancy Dress.

She's today's garden guest.

She's invited herself for afternoon tea.

She comes because this tea party is free.

Wearing an eye-catching floating gown

this afternoon she's seen waltzing round and round.

She sips pink lemonade tea first. Delightful!

Does she know its Latin name? Echinacea.

Purple cone flower is its common name.

Ms. Fancy Dress sips from its stamens.

She sips from one, then another

as her gossamer wings flutter.

Then orange juice tea attracts her attention

at this mid-summer day afternoon luncheon.

This tea is really turk's cap lilies.

Soon she's punch drunk and becomes quite silly.

She's seen hanging upside down

covered with orange pollen.

Next lavender garden phlox is quietly sipped

as her long feeding tube unerringly dips

but she seems to like pink lemonade the best

as she shares with other tea-drinking garden guests.

They're her friends the bees,

here for afternoon tea.

Just who is Ms. Fancy Dress?

Who is this welcome garden guest?

Yellow with black dots and stripes and a blue ruffled hem,

to see her waltz always attracts my attention.

No fashion designer or seamstress the world over

could come up with these coordinates of color.

Too soon her belly is filled.

For a few minutes I was thrilled

to visit with my garden guest.

There she goes, Ms. Fancy Dress.

She's a yellow swallowtail

who's talked about in this tale.

* * * * *

Oh the poise of Ms. Fancy Dress as she flounces about.

Even if a gossamer wing is torn, she still gallivants.

Though her God-given mission

is for pollination

she attracts much attention

from gardeners and children.

As if not a care in the world,

she seems to reduce worries that whirl.

Her agility and grace

brings smiles to many a face.

Her buoyancy exhibits

lightness of spirit.

She's not weighed down with the cares of this world,

trusting in her Creator her needs are upheld.

She brightens many a day

with her cheerful, carefree ways.

If life is a dance,

her waltz will enchant.

This lightness of spirit is also available to us

through believing faith as we choose to live a life of trust.

Life has many worries that tend to get us down

forgetting God's faithfulness and leaving behind a frown,

but God has a solution for worry

and a feeling of anxiety.

It's "cast all your anxiety upon Him because He cares for you."

Yes, seeking God in prayer is the antidote for what worries you.

If you're at all familiar with the Psalms,

you'll realize that David prayed often -

in thankfulness,

in distress.

When victorious or at wit's end.

When pursued by enemies without end.

Rather these enemies were physical,

emotional, or irrational.

David knew one remedy for anxiety was to offer praise to God at all times.

Praising God focuses on God's loving kindness allowing God's faithfulness to shine.

Through life's various surprise twists and turns,

disappointments, not knowing which way to turn,

let prayer bring you needed peace and comfort

healing emotional and physical hurts.

God hears our heart's cry when we pray

even when we don't know what to say.

In him we live and move and have our being.

As some of your own poets have said, 'We are his offspring.'

Acts 17:28

Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you.

I Peter 5:7

Do not be anxious about anything,

but in everything, by prayer and petition,

with thanksgiving,

present your requests to God.

And the peace of God,

which transcends all understanding,

will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Philippians 4:6-7

The Spirit helps us in our weakness.

We do not know what we ought to pray for,

but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans

that words cannot express.

And he who searches our hearts

knows the mind of the Spirit,

because the Spirit intercedes for the saints

in accordance with God's will.

Romans 8:26-27

For everything that was written in the past

was written to teach us,

so that through endurance

and the encouragement of the Scriptures

we might have hope.

Romans 15:4

Praise the Lord.

Praise the Lord from the heavens,

praise him in the heights above.

Praise him, all his angels,

praise him, all his heavenly hosts.

Praise him, sun and moon,

praise him, all you shining stars.

Praise him, you highest heavens

and you waters above the skies.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for he commanded and they were created.

He set them in place for ever and ever...

Praise the Lord from the earth

you great sea creatures and all ocean depths,

lightning and hail, snow and clouds,

storm winds that do his bidding,

you mountains and all hills,

fruit trees and all cedars,

wild animals and all cattle,

small creatures and flying birds,

kings of the earth and all nations,

you princes and all rulers on earth,

you men and maidens,

old men and children.

Let them praise the name of the Lord,

for his name alone is exalted;

his splendor is above the earth and the heavens.

Psalm 148

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