SOWPub Small Business Forums - Happy Birthday to Julie!

Does anyone recognize that line? I am a movie buff, and LOVE Jimmy Stewart. I think I told Dien that I can out quote almost anyone head to head in "Its a Wonderful Life" quotes....

The line I quoted here though is from Tom Hanks' character in "A League of Their Own" pre-multiple Oscar days.

You all brought tears to my eyes this morning! THANK YOU! so very much!

Yesterday I received a magnificent gift, and from that gift an article flowed forth....it was one of those times when it was really late at night and I had no idea what time it was. The story simply needed to be told. And I was thankful that two key players allowed me to use their real names and point people to their websites.

May I give back to all of you through this very abundant article, "The Empty Envelope"The Empty Envelope
(c) 2001
Julie Jordan Scott

As I sifted through my mail, I saw the envelope. It was one of those
padded envelopes that usually hold books or audiotapes. I knew it
would probably arrive that day, because in my Prospering Women's
group our coach, Christen, mentioned she had sent them winging on
their way to each of us.

One of the women in the group laughed, saying hers had arrived
empty. Another woman remarked hers had been beautifully filled.
My initial reaction was, "Well, I certainly hope MINE is not empty!"

I slowly took the the envelope into my hands. I bent it. There was
nothing blocking it from being bent in half. I opened it and looked
inside. Empty. Somehow between the time it left Christen's hand
until it arrived in my mailbox, the top had been slit and the contents
had slipped out during the journey.

Somehow as I touched the lettering of my address on the outside of
the envelope, my mindset shifted. I realized that it was absolutely
perfect that the envelope's contents were not what Christen meant
to send me. Instead the contents of the envelope were really so much
more.

In the emptiness, there was abundance. I remembered all the conversations
we had shared during the four months our group was together. I paused
to reflect on the growth of each woman. I spent time with my journal,
where I had penned written descriptions from our final session together.
I laughed in delight, recalling how the very special women from this group
had gifted me with their kindness, their love, their constructive
support, their continued friendship and the light of the new
beginnings that were ahead for each of us.

If the envelope had contained what was originally inside, I would not
have received this message so fully, that the empty envelope was
more than enough. That the caring intention of Christen was enough.
That each of us, with our shortcomings and weird ideosyncracies
and pet peeves and obstacles: we are enough.

On February 9, 1990 I gave birth to my first child. My longed for,
planned for, dreamed of and prayed for little girl burst forth into
this world. The challenge that she presented, however, was that
she when she was born, she no longer had life. She had died before
she was born. My little Marlena was the personification of an empty
envelope.

As those first shell shocked months passed, I went to hell and back
on a regular basis. I was a failure as a woman, I was a failure as a
mother. I had the mistaken belief that if you opened the dictionary,
next to the word "Inept" one would find my portrait.

Yet as months turned into years and the years slid by and Marlena's
younger sisters were born, something very spectacular was happening.
I began to see the multitude of gifts that came from her little life.
The everlasting changes in perspective that had come especially
because she was born and she died. While her physicalness was not
touching my life each day, her legacy most definitely was within me
and around me everyday. Her little life was significant. She was
more than enough, many times over.

Yesterday was my birthday. As I continue to get older, somehow
the celebrations become less hearty. I quietly ushered in the day
without much fanfare. Slowly I felt myself sinking into a decidedly
uncelebratory funk.

A knock on the door awakened me. A man with a large box waited
for me, and handed me a clipboard to sign. A gift! I smiled, in
delighted recognition. My dear friend had sent me gift!

Carefully I freed the box within the box from its highly buffered
wrapping. It had repeated warnings to take extra care: fragile
contents! With extreme tenderness, I lifted the gold ribboned package
with the feather tucked within the bow.

Peeling away the protective packaging, I unearthed an extraordinairy
work of art. My friend, Amber, is an Egg Shell artist. She had
sent me the gift of her artistry. A Sculture unlike any I had ever
seen before. She had taken a Goose Egg and created an awe-inspiring
object, carefully and tenderly crafted. It required hours and hours
of work.

The eggshell was empty. And yet, it was not. The shell was bursting
forth with love and caring and prosperous beauty beyond anything
I had ever imagined.

Like the empty envelope from Christen. Like my dear little Marlena's
life.

In what part of your life are you feeling hollow? Void of purpose or
meaning? Absent of light? Is there a message or lesson for you to be
learning? A shift wanting to happen? An expansive awakening wanting
to be birthed within you?

Michelangelo said "What spirit is so empty and blind, that it cannot
recognize the fact that the foot is more noble than the shoe, and skin
more beautiful that the garment with which it is clothed?"

What ever it is about you or your circumstance is feeling "not enough",
I encourage you to look deeper. Somewhere within that emptiness is a
glorious surprise. An abundant work of art, waiting to be recognized
and used. The part of you which is buried within that is so much more
than what is covering it. The subtle, quiet, message inside.

You are ready to burst forth, full of love, caring and artistry that is
more beautiful than you could ever imagine.

Awaken to your abundance.

***
Meet the amazing women who inspired this article. Amber's website with
pictures of her amazing artistry can be found at
http://www.daydreambelievers.com

Christen, who is a living, breathing role model of Abundant Prosperity,
can be found at http://www.benchmarkcoaching.com

Happiest Birthdays to ALL of us, ALL year long!

With Much Love,

Julie Jordan Scott

Dare to Discover Your Passion, Decide to Live Your Destiny!