My favorite visitor…
Are you in the midst of a transformation?
How challenging has it been?
Isn’t it interesting that when you believe you’ve gotten a grasp on something, God comes in and rearranges things…specifically YOU?
We can get comfortable parenting a certain way, teaching a certain way, ministering a certain way, executing at work a certain way and still need to transform into a better version of ourselves.
For some of us though, it is not merely a better version of ourselves, it’s a complete overhaul of ourselves….hence the name of this post.
As a young girl I was always fascinated with animals and nature. My father obliged this curiosity and made all kinds of homemade trappings so that I could watch animals grow. I would have little tadpoles and watch them progress, as their tails shrunk and their legs grew, to frogs. Watch birds sit on their eggs until they hatched. Watch ducklings follow their mother around and, over time, change their down feathers and color to look just like her.
But my favorite experience would always be the butterfly. We would place the caterpillar in a breathable jar with twigs and leaves to eat. I would excitedly check everyday to see what would happen.
I did not necessarily know the exact timing of the growth progression, but one day the caterpillar was gone and a pupa (chrysalis) was hanging from one of the twigs.
It was brown and hard and I had absolutely no clue what was happening inside.
I kept checking every day and one morning in the jar would be a butterfly 🙂
A beautiful butterfly.
I never knew what type of butterfly would come out of a particular caterpillar. I just knew that the butterfly was always so beautiful.
As I reminisce on this, I realize what fascinated and still fascinates me the most is the process.
The beginning and the end are so unalike! And a butterfly can never be a caterpillar again!
God is desiring to change us but we are arguing in the process…
Last year was a year of seeking for me. I was unsatisfied and I was seeking God with fervor…not exactly sure what I needed.
Somewhere in that year my Pastor told me that I was changed. As is his habit, he is usually further down the road in God’s vision for us before we have caught up…so I heard him, but I did not necessarily believe it.
I asked the Lord and He said I was a butterfly. I had a gazillion questions. What do you mean? What do butterflies do? How do butterflies know what to do? How do they know what to eat and what eats them? What does this mean? etc..
Then butterflies started showing up all over my yard, screen door and door steps 🙂 🙂
At the end of my seek my instruction came.
“Study the Holy Spirit”.
I did and I am! He has been the best teacher of what being a butterfly means for me 🙂 And can I say, everyday is a lesson? Oftentimes a new one, but occasionally a recap of one that I missed. He is the best and He is the advantage we have in ANY transformation.
I just want to encourage you to embrace the process. Even if you don’t understand or ‘see’ what it could be, it is ALWAYS beautiful on the other side.
”…What the caterpillar calls the end of the world, the Master calls the butterfly” ~ Richard Bach
Blessings always!
JC
The Sound 