Welcome!

You’ve arrived in the land of the Fiercely Compassionate Grandmother where CONTEXT is almost everything. Let me tell you a bit about the context for our adventure…

Late one night, not long ago, I was watching Shiloh’s paint videos about Nuestra Señora de Guadalupe, aka The Virgin of Guadalupe. Being from a faith tradition that considers itself Reformed, it was a journey through new territory for me.

Here’s what I remember Shiloh saying… that someone had asked if the story of the Holy Mother appearing to the indigenous and indigent Juan Diego was really so and the reply came that, “What’s true is that the people have made it so!”

I’ve found myself pondering that a lot in the last days, during this time of not knowing.

What, I wondered, is true because we have made it so that might not be working?

And what is true because we have made it so that heals and helps

In a moment, I’m going to ask you to click one more link, but first let me tell you another story.

I sat, yesterday, in a meeting with the amazing Sam Bennett of The Organized Artist Company.

One of Sam’s team members, the also amazing Veronica Guzzardi, mentioned a Storytelling Ape with powers of good and evil whom she had apparently “stolen” from Sam.

You, of course, have already done the math. Having at the very least borrowed her myself, I’m wondering about the things we might, just now, believe are true and if the Storytelling Ape is using her powers for good or for evil.

And what, of course, it might mean to us to ponder such a question.

 Now, if you’re so inclined, you can click gorilla and set yourself up with a printable pdf coloring sheet of a Storytelling Ape of your very own, with thanks to my granddaughter who coached my portrait and the Legendary Husband who made it appear here! She’ll need some details for her eyes, a mouth that makes sense to you, and whatever embellishments you’d like in terms of hair and color.
Or, you can draw your own Storytelling Ape. Or skip the drawing and proceed to the writing. It’s all good. My hope is simply that you’ll journey, for a bit, with the notion of what you might be believing that’s helpful and what you might be willing to experiment with setting aside, just to see what gets different.
I can’t wait to hear!