BUTTERFLIES

While at Lake Ontario, spending lots of time outside writing and communing with the Lord and His beautiful creation, there were two monarch butterflies that kept me company flying around. I take lots of pictures of nature because it’s so beautiful and I want to remember it forever. I was proud that when I finally decided to take a picture of the butterflies, I successfully got a few. A few days later, another opportunity came along for taking pictures, which inspired this reflection.

 

 

Think about what happens for a butterfly to emerge. Once a butterfly egg hatches, it becomes a caterpillar, a creature that can only creep and crawl along. After lots and lots of food and two to four weeks as a caterpillar, it turns into a chrysalis or pupa. The caterpillar undergoes great transformation here, which turns the caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Butterflies reflect their beauty as they fly all over God’s beautiful creation!

 

Photo courtesy of Brad Smith under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 2.0); words added by hopetoinspireyou.com

 

Isn’t there a parallel between butterflies and our lives in Christ?

–Don’t our lives go through transformation that leads us to Christ? We become new creations in Christ.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.  –2 Corinthians 5:17  (ESV)

 

–Once we come to Christ, there is an ongoing growth and transformation that continues throughout our lives.

Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.  –Romans 12:2  (NIV)

 

–At first we are crawling around trying to find our way, but we end up soaring with the Lord!

But those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint.  –Isaiah 40:31  (NIV)

 

I recently shared with a friend that I felt kind of like a butterfly when I had to return to work in person after two years of working at home because of the pandemic. It seemed the time at home was a time of personal growth in Scripture and prayer, providing me with more alone time with the Lord. Having the opportunity of working and being at home, not being able to do my usual ministries, I was inspired to publish two books. During the two years, I believe I was being transformed from the inside out. I have emerged, ready to spread my wings and fly to whatever God has in store next.

 

 

Wasn’t Jesus’ life like a caterpillar that turned into a beautiful butterfly for you and me? Just as a caterpillar makes a cocoon, seeming to be dead, so Jesus died on the cross for you and me. His lifeless body was taken down from the cross and placed in a tomb. Three days later, He rose from the dead. Jesus’ resurrection was like being transformed into a beautiful butterfly!

I passed on to you what was most important and what had also been passed on to me. Christ died for our sins, just as the Scriptures said. He was buried, and he was raised from the dead on the third day, just as the Scriptures said.  –1 Corinthians 15:3-4  (NLT)

 

As I was sitting on the steps with the lake in front of me, I watched this butterfly on the water’s edge. He was perched on the dry part of a rock, basking in the sunshine, not fazed by the waves of the lake.

 

 

When he moved, he landed on the next rock with his wings slightly open and then displayed the beauty of his whole wing span before eventually flying around in freedom.

 

 

Shouldn’t we be more like that butterfly?

–Not being fazed by the storms in life?

Whoever dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, “He is my refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.”  –Psalm 91:1-2  (NIV)

 

–Being ready to move on to the next place when it’s time?

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my loving eye on you.  –Psalm 32:8  (NIV)

 

–Displaying the beauty of our lives that God has made?

Thank you for making me so wonderfully complex! Your workmanship is marvelous—how well I know it.  –Psalm 139:14  (NLT)

 

 

 

Be encouraged this week to be like a beautiful butterfly by…

…letting God transform you with beauty and grace.

…continually growing in the Lord.

…soaring with the Lord.

 

…being at peace.

…knowing God is leading you.

…embracing the uniqueness of how God made you.

 

Enjoy the freedom of spreading your wings and sharing the beauty of your life with everyone giving glory to God!

 

Photo courtesy of Inspirational Quotes under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 2.0)

 

A few fun butterfly facts:

Caterpillars have eight pairs of legs. The first three pairs, the thoracic legs, are jointed with hooks and will become the butterfly's legs.

Butterflies use their feet to taste.

Butterflies actually have four wings, not two.

The average lifespan of an adult butterfly is roughly three to four weeks. At least one species of butterfly lives for approximately 24 hours, while some migratory butterflies can survive for nearly eight months.

 

You are altogether beautiful, my love; there is no flaw in you.  –Song of Solomon 4:7  (ESV)