Butterflies

With our garden in full bloom, we've been visited frequently by a band of butterflies. Why is it that seeing a butterfly makes me stop and watch? It is such a treat to see a butterfly more than any other insect. Is it the fact that butterflies go through such a change? From larvae to caterpillar to chrysallis to butterfly? That's four different lives! Can we say as much about our lives?

Maybe.

Caterpillars devour everything in sight - leaves, fruits, vegetables. Munch-munching their way from a tiny size to a glutonous caterpillar the size of an adult's finger, these creatures can do some damage! It reminds me of people. We are consumers. If we see it and it looks like it will make us more impressive, we want it. We stuff ourselves on things, and soon, like the caterpillar, we need bigger skin.

Then the chrysallis stage. Caterpillars slow down, find a place to stay and form a Chrysallis - a cocoon of safety. Everything they've eaten has prepared them for this next stage - a metamorphosis from a creepy crawly to a masterpiece in flight. The Chrysallis stage for people has two possibilities. One, people are stuffed after consuming all the world has to offer. Caterpillars eat good things and become butterflies - exactly what God intended. But people don't always "eat" what we are supposed to. Our appetite ruins the shape God gave us. We drown our emotions in food, alcohol, pornography, and careers. The coccons for these people are lined with anti-depressants, therapists, and sin. When they emerge, if they emerge, they haven't changed. The metamorphosis couldn't take place because they were drugged to a stupor. In nature, these chrysallis are snacks for predators; little buttons of nourishment.

The second possibility for people entering the chryssalis stage is true change. They look over everything they've learned (consumed) and either like what they see or don't -- and change! Stillness follows. They wrap themselves in an agent of change: the bible, the church, good friends, or sometimes (and sadly) cults and practices that offer enlightenment. It's true that not all change is good. But change happens for these folks and they emerge in a completely new form; some stunning, some simple, some colorful, some in camoflauge - but all with wings.

So, am I a snack, shrink wrapped in the seven sins and waiting for some one to pluck me off a branch and take a bite? Or am I truly becoming what God intended? Finding my wings?