"A Real Little Trooper"

I wonder if anyone still uses that old phrase (the title of this post) ... so often said backstage during the old show biz days :)

I meant to put up this post recently when I wrote a couple of others. This one is in the "Nature's Wonders" category of my mind. It's about a poinsettia plant that I bought three or four Decembers ago either at the grocery store or Kmart; it summered outdoors and then came in each autumn just before the frosts would begin. I would bring in the scraggly (neglected) plant because it was clinging to life so valiantly; I admired that.

Last summer's drought hurt and even killed some of the plantings I attempted to keep watered, dragging the hoses around the property in the intense heat each day. The poinsettia was not on my plant priority list but, somehow, it managed to catch enough water spray when I when I watered my other outside plants to hang on ...  and it still had a leaf or two when autumn arrived, so I brought it indoors in November so it wouldn't freeze. It stands on a table with my houseplants here on my sun porch and now has a full crop of leaves on new branches and bright red brachts with the little yellow flower centers.  It looks proud :)  All this with no special care except weekly watering.  

I admire and respect the life force ... the courage and determination an organism (including human) can have under adverse conditions, in order to endure, grow, blossom, and fulfill its purpose.  And so I've named this plant "Little Trooper" :)  

Fierce Love!

"The Divine is with us, my friends, if we
only bring our attention there. Take heart.
Be courageous and brave. Practice
faith and patience as you Stand with Fierce Love.  When the consciousness is kept on God, you
will have no fears; every obstacle will then
be overcome by courage and
faith."     ~ Paramahansa Yogananda
Thank you, Ike, for sending out that quote.

Fierce Love is passionate and unconditional.  For me, it is the only kind of love that I can really call "love".  Fierce love does not back down or shrivel up; it lasts through the storm and administers caring; it is honest and palpable.  It is the way I live and breathe and, at times, pull myself or another back from the abyss.  It gives me courage. Fierce love is the real deal.
 ~ Clara the Lady Wolf