Butterfly Devotions

Ever since I was a young girl I have been fascinated with butterflies. There is something so beautiful and magical and special about butterflies that captivates the mind and the imagination. They are such delicate creatures and the grace with which they soar leaves us breathless and waiting in anticipation as we watch them.

This past summer I had the wonderful opportunity to witness the amazing transformation of a butterfly. My daughters found this caterpillar on some parsley that my mother in law had growing in her garden. It was not in the least bit beautiful or attractive, in fact it was quite ugly and disgusting. None the less we took in this disgusting creature and gave it a home. We fed it and kept it healthy and watched as it grew. Day by day this creature "wiggled" its way into our hearts and our affections and then one day when we looked, it was in a chrysalis. We knew then that it had begun its change. Out in the wild this caterpillar might have made it to this stage, if some hungry birds didn't gobble it up, or if the summer rains and winds didn't drown it, but because my daughters had taken their time and showered this creature with love and affection, it was beginning to turn into something completely different.

Within only a few days the chrysalis began to move and we watched as one wing emerged and then a second wing emerged. It was a long and tiring process for this butterfly, but my daughters again showed their love and compassion and gave the butterfly some simple sugar water, to help it regain its strength. A few days later we decided to let the butterfly out into the wild. It was a tearful departure, watching the creature we had taken care of spread its wings and fly into the unknown. For the rest of the summer every time we saw a certain butterfly, we imagined that it was the same one that we had watched grow, develop, blossom and fly... and perhaps it was the same one.

It wasn't until recently that I started thinking about how we as Christians are very much like butterflies ourselves. We all start our lives as caterpillars, crawling and not really drawing much attention to ourselves. Some of us are blessed and we are cared for by loving parents and that helps us to develop, but all of us have a loving and caring heavenly Father that is willing to do the same thing for ALL of us. He watches us daily, nourishes our souls with His "sugar water" and little by little we grow and develop into that beautiful soaring butterfly. What a beautiful thought, we are butterflies of God!