No, not from ME, heavens! I don’t have enough to go around! I am referring to the words of wisdom that are to be found in books all around us. There are the obvious books like history, scripture, etc….but I have found so many words of wisdom in novels, memoirs, and even the brain candy (as my DH calls them) books I sometimes read.

It is amazing to me how being as different as we all are as people, we are all so very much the same. We all have trials and tribulations. We all have joys and happy times. We all have things to learn and things to teach.

What brought on this deep thinking? Mostly the fact that I am up WAY too early and can’t leave my room due to people sleeping all over my house, but also due to the book that I just finished. I am pretty picky about the books I read. I have a strict test books have to pass before I will read them. I have to find the cover visually interesting in some way for me to even pick it up, I read the back, the inside flap (if there is one) and then I pick a page at random and see if it flows. I know, that isn’t THAT picky, but….whatever! The reason for the last step is due to a book I bought a year or so ago that I didn’t do that with. It ‘looked’ interesting, ‘sounded’ interesting, but when I got it home to read it, the darn thing had NO paragraph breaks! Doesn’t sound like a big deal? Try it! It was impossible to read. Even tho I was intrigued by the plot, I couldn’t focus on it. I guess my brain needed those little pauses to process things or something.

Anyway, I was at KMart the other night wandering around while I talked to my friend J on the phone and ended up, predictably, at the book shelf. Jodi Picoult was everywhere (bad sign, frankly) , but after picking up a book called something like…”Don’t make me pick between you and my shoes” ….(this would be an example of ‘brain candy’), I spotted a sublte book with a certain glow to the cover. It was called the Butterfly Garden.  The book passed the tests so I bought it and took it home. I have to admit here that I was a BIT hesitant because the book was about an abused child. I don’t really like these kinds of books, generally, because they upset me. I don’t like people hurting other people. It makes my soul ache.  For some reason, I decided to give this book a chance, reading with one eye half closed…just in case.

The language bordered on foul in parts, but the story captured me. This definitely had people hurting each other in it. Especially people hurting a child, which I can’t abide. But, the inner strength that this boy had was amazing. He was able to push through and draw upon the power of his soul. I believe he was aided by angels. How else could he have survived?

The book packs a powerful message that we can all learn from. Despite our situations. Despite where we are and what we are given in this life, we all have an inner strength.  I truly believe we are not given more than we can handle in this life. Sometimes it seems like we are pushed to the very limit. The boy in this story was pushed beyond any limit I think I have, but he made it. We can all make it.

Get the book. Read it. I warned you about the language…but press on. It is worth it.

The Butterfly Garden by Chip St. Clair.