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” The earth laughs in flowers.” Ralph Waldo Emerson

I started writing about the lock downs and what that time in history was like about a month ago. I think it’s time, it’s time to heal. Writing and speaking about it, is all part of that process. More and more people are coming out and speaking about their experiences, telling their stories.

It’s really bad when silence is encouraged. I understand fear, I have suffered from it, we all have at one time or another. Fear is an evil tool that emotionally cripples and silently bullies.

To look fear in it’s eyes, to stand up to it…makes it quiver when that kind of strength is reflected back to it. Then the mirror that fear is looking back into, turns fear itself into it’s own terror and takes it down.

There is a word that triggers fear, and that word is courage. How would I describe what we all went through when the lock downs started?…I would describe it as if we were being fed fear and it got comfortable in our heads.

I wrote last month about the feed store, before, during and after the lock downs, and what that was like. And now I want to share a story of kindness. I’m from one of those states where the lock downs were not that intense. We could go out and walk, keeping our distance of course. It was still sad though, but we could still exist in a way. We just were told not to be around one another. Think about how heartbreaking that is…to not be around one another. Humans are herd animals, we are social creatures.

As you all know, I love my walks. One morning while out walking in our neighborhood, and this was right smack dab in the middle of the mess we were in when the lock downs started, I would stop in my tracks when all of a sudden as I turned the corner, I was given a beautiful image of hundreds of flowers. My favorites too…daisies.

They were taking over the neighborhood everywhere. I had never seen so many. I started taking photos. I wanted to capture that moment in time. That’s when a woman came out of her home with a bag. She started grabbing up some of the flowers and stuffing them into the large bag.

She smiled at me as I stood watching her wondering what she was up to. I had stopped taking photos when she first walked out. She looked up at me then and told me that they were seeds, the flowers she was collecting. There were so many flowers, like they were swallowing us up where we both stood. I looked behind me and noticed that daisies were all up and down her whole street.

She had been sitting at her window looking out at the world when she saw me walk by , when I stopped and started taking photos of her yard. And that’s when she looked fear in it’s eyes, stood her ground, and grabbed a bag to come out and talk to a stranger.

After she collected up all kinds of seeds, filling her bag full of them, she handed me the bag with the biggest smile I ever saw. What she just did at that moment, was at a time in our history when smiles were rare because fear had stolen them from us all. Fear had locked them up and hid them from us, for awhile that is. Some people sadly have never been able to get theirs back, they still have them locked away behind fear’s prison. But this stranger, a woman I had never met, had her smile out and free for everyone to see.

“Here, take them, plant them in your yard, on your street.” she said as she handed me a giant garbage bag of my favorite flower.

The bag was heavy with seeds. I took it from her and thanked her. She stood there awhile, maybe just taking in the early morning air, living in that moment. Coming out from her window, she had decided to talk to a stranger. She had decided to stare fear in it’s face…and she won. Turning the tables on fear and terrorizing it instead… just to share a little kindness with a stranger. And that is something else fear hates…kindness. That’s when courage controls.

So…what do you all remember about that time? Share your stories…and remember…don’t ever forget. Love your neighbors, try to stay away from those screens as much as possible. Your hands were meant for other hands, not machines.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go. Joshua 1:9