As many of you probably know, butterflies hold a precious place in my family's heart. This past week I had an assignment in my writing class to write about a metaphor that I held important in my life. I hope you enjoy this quick story about a girl, her mother, and a butterfly...
The Butterfly
It
was a beautiful day in April. Small, brown finches were chirping to each other
from miles away. Bees were buzzing with a determined sound. Bright yellow and
red flowers were blossoming all throughout the fields, and there was a slight
breeze whispering through the trees. However, something was off.
It was a young girl about the age of ten.
For such a young age she had an extraordinary sense for nature, and she had an
incomparable desire to think. She was curious about anything and everything
dealing with nature, from worms slithering in the dirt, to why the tides
changed from morning to night. But today she wasn’t thinking about any of these
natural occurrences, she was thinking solely about her mother. See, her mother
was in remission from leukemia when they found out she had relapsed.
On this particular day in April, the
little girl was strolling around the park with her newly diagnosed mother.
Despite the delightful weather, the young girl couldn’t help but feel as if a
low-lying thunderstorm cloud was hanging right above them as they made their
way around the park. The mother noticed her daughter’s irregular behavior and
began to question her most private thoughts.
“What on earth has you down in the dumps,
doll?” the mother asked with the most compassionate tone, even though she knew
exactly what was running through her daughter’s head.
“I don’t know…” whispered the daughter,
with a hint of sadness on her face. “I just don’t know what’s going to happen,
you know…If you don’t get better.”
The mother quit looking around to look up
at her daughter’s innocent face, when she noticed the silent, but most
incredible butterfly she had ever seen before.
“Stop right here,” the mother commanded.
Although she was ill, she was not the personality to back down from anything.
The daughter stopped pushing her wheelchair for a moment and walked in front so
she could see her mother’s face.
“You see that butterfly?” the mother
questioned; the young girl’s eyes immediately fluttered around until they
latched onto the bright yellow Monarch butterfly that was resting peacefully
beside her mother on a flower.
“Yes, Mama, I see it. But what does that
have to do with you and me?”
“Let me tell you about the butterfly,”
the mother spoke softly as she gently smiled and looked over at her daughter.
“The butterfly is a peculiar creature. It
begins its life as a small, pudgy caterpillar; rarely do people ever stop to observe
a caterpillar. Although they aren’t ugly, they don’t yet understand the beauty
that they are destined for. They are small, vulnerable, and constantly feeding;
they are like this some time until it’s time for them to become a chrysalis.
That is their preparation for what is to come. Although they don’t know what is
about to happen, they understand what they must do, and they have the courage
to withstand the adversity. They feel drawn to it; it’s their destiny. Once
they are lodged into their new environment, the outside of the chrysalis looks
as if it remains the same. The inside is where all of the change is occurring.
During this time, they are rapidly undergoing a magnificent transformation.
When their new bodies are fully transformed they are fully prepared to emerge
from their chrysalis. Suddenly, what once looked dead is now bursting to life.
A beautiful, colorful, winged creature, a butterfly, comes out of this
chrysalis. It is one of the most amazing miracles in all of life. You see,
sweetheart, this is how they are like you and me.” The young girl was fully
engaged in her mother’s interesting description of the butterfly, but she had
questions.
“How, Mama? How are they like you and me?
We don’t ever come out of chrysalis!”
“Ah, let me explain,” the mother replied.
“The Bible says in 2 Corinthians that ‘if anyone is in Christ, he is a new
creation. The old has passed away, the new has come.’ You see, right now we are
all caterpillars, waiting to make our glorious transformation from our human
bodies. Our body is our chrysalis. On the outside we may change as we grow old
or ill, but the inside is where the dramatic change is happening. As
Christians, we know we must fully prepare for our ultimate destiny, Heaven. We
know that our lives here on Earth are only ‘a mist that appears for a little
time and then vanishes’ (James 4:14). We must make the time we have here have
meaning, have purpose. We cannot waste away day by day not preparing
spiritually for what is to come. We know it is our destiny.”
“Oh!” the little girl exclaimed with a
grin. “I get it now! We are caterpillars here on Earth, waiting until the day
we die and go to Heaven because then we will be beautiful butterflies!”
“Yes exactly! That is why you shouldn’t
fear, sweetheart. Although we may not know what will happen tomorrow, we have
faith that we know our destiny in Jesus Christ. So whenever you begin to worry
about me or what is going to happen, remember that we are fortunate enough to
know our destinies, unlike the caterpillar. We know the beauty that one day we
will witness. So anytime you see a butterfly, let it comfort you through all of
the changes you may undergo. Kristen, if I am ever not with you, let the
butterfly remind you to be courageous, because you are preparing to become a
butterfly.”
“Yes, Mama, I will. I will always
remember.” Little did the girl know that years later, even as a young adult,
she would still remember the significance of a butterfly. She would always
remember the eminent beauty of a butterfly, of an “earth angel.”
God bless you all! Kristen
Matthew 6:28-34 (NIV)
“And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you that not even Solomon in all his splendor was dressed like one of these. If that is how God clothes the grass of the field, which is here today and tomorrow is thrown into the fire, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own.
