It’s springtime and there are so many of new life. Flowers are blooming, trees are covered in lush green leaves, the grass is growing and soon the sky will fill with beautiful butterflies.
I love to see butterflies, because they are a constant reminder to me of the amazing way God works. They start out as ugly caterpillars and over time they spin a cocoon and are transformed into beautiful butterflies. The very same thing happens to us when we become Christians. We start out ugly in sin and the Lord does a mighty work in and through us to make us beautiful. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
I heard a story of a boy who observed this process. One day he saw a caterpillar taking its place on a tree branch and begin to spin its cocoon. He watched with amazement and curiosity. Each day he would check on the cocoon to see if anything had changed. Finally, one day, he noticed movement in the cocoon. He knew a beautiful butterfly was supposed to emerge and he wanted to witness it. As he watched, he saw the butterfly struggling to get out of the cocoon. He couldn’t stand it any longer. He took a knife and cut a slit in the cocoon so the butterfly could escape. The butterfly came through the opening and spread its beautiful wings. It began flapping the wings and took off from the branch. Instead of soaring through the sky, the butterfly fell to the ground and died. The young boy picked the butterfly up and held it in his hands crying. His father had witnessed the whole thing and came to kneel beside his son. “Son,” he said, “I know you wanted to help the butterfly by making things easy for it to escape the struggle it was experiencing to break through the cocoon, but you see, it is through the struggle the butterfly strengthens its wings so it can soar.”
Many of us feel like we are trapped in a cocoon as we try and escape some of the refining we must go through to emerge as a transformed life in Christ; however, just like the butterfly, the struggle we go through is what builds up our strength and faith in Christ Jesus. Understand whatever the Lord allows you to go through will be used to make you the beautiful reflection of Christ you were called to be. He wastes nothing. The Lord won’t abandon you to do this thing called life on your own. “For I am confident of this very thing, that He who began a good work in you will perfect it until the day of Christ Jesus.” [Philippians 1:6] It is His to do and He is faithful to do it. Will you trust Him?