Guest Post : The Message in A Butterfly

Have you ever seen a butterfly’s shadow?

 

I was in my bedroom today, alone in the house and earnestly seeking God when I saw one...a butterfly’s shadow.

 

It danced across the closed mini blinds of my bedroom window, illuminated by the noonday sun. It made me smile, and it made me stop and think...are butterflies mentioned in the Bible? (Am I the only one who asks questions like this in the middle of a personal prayer session?) This verse from 2 Corinthians is what I found:

 

“Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

 

We’ve all learned about a caterpillar’s metamorphosis into a butterfly and some of us have even witnessed it firsthand (at my house we like any kind of science that involves critters).

Have you ever stopped to think about how this verse applies to you and me?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We are a lot like caterpillars when we try to do things our own way and apart from God.

We crawl around devouring anything we can sink our teeth into,

only to become larger and greater in our own minds.

 

I once had the privilege of seeing a butterfly just after it emerged from its cocoon.

It did not fly off right away.  It carefully readied itself for its first glorious flight as a new creature. It flew off the porch but quickly landed nearby in the grass, as if not quite used to this new sensation, this new experience, this new “normal.”

It took flight again, this time going a little further, but then stopping again. I watched this beautiful butterfly as it flew around the area it was used to, staying in its comfort zone. Then suddenly, almost as if someone had called its name, that butterfly soared on the wind high in the air and I never saw it again.

This particular butterfly began its life in a spiky, frightening , and poisonous form. Then God made it into a new creature. It became something beautiful, capable of things it could never have done without this dramatic change.

 

My encouragement to you today- 

You are new and beautiful in Christ.

Your past is part of your present because it has made you who you are in Him.

God has taken your yesterdays and transformed them with his love into a life of glorious praise.

Now soar on the wings of His love, let Him take you to new heights of glory. Don’t look back on your yesterdays and see sadness or destruction.

Instead, see what He sees when He looks at your yesterday: a creature who needed Love’s transforming beauty in order to fulfill her purpose in this life, a purpose that continues to unfold, day by day, washing your soul with beauty as you honor Him with your life.

 

Do you see the connection between your yesterday and your purpose ?

 

[author] [author_image timthumb='on'][/author_image] [author_info]Patricia Hord- I am a mother of two wonderful boys who make life an exciting adventure every day and wife of nearly 25 years to a man who unselfishly cares for his family in every way he can. http://www.heart4learning.blogspot.com/ [/author_info] [/author]

butterfly photo credit: Paulo Brandão via photopin cc

caterpillar photo credit: macropoulos via photopin cc