grace

my mandala word was grace.

an important word.

not an easy one to convey in art.

the suggestion was to use stars.

and i did.

and before any color was added i saw circus.

not grace.

just circus.

nothing wrong with a circus drawing....

unless you want a grace drawing.

darn.

no grace.

but, in thinking of grace, i recalled a starfish parable.

and i turned my stars to starfish.

and it is subtle like a circus but says grace now.

i don't know who the parable is attributed to ..... (though not jesus, in my mind the primary parable teller) .... and i just wrote it from memory .... i feel like it is paul coehlo ... but it might be isaac asimov or mark twain or maybe a bunch of writers claim it! 

in case it is too tiny in the photo, 

here is what i wrote:

a man was walking along a beach filled with washed up starfish ….

he came across a boy, tossing starfish back into the ocean…

child, what are you doing?  he asked….

i am saving the starfish.

saving them? there are too many… you can’t make a difference….why does it matter?

the boy picked up a starfish and tossed it into the ocean … it matters to that one … and this one … and this one ….

don’t miss your opportunity to toss a star.  it matters.