Encouragement
Butterfly
By Chukwugozie “Blessed Fountain” Mbeledogu
The Butterfly is one of nature’s most colorful creatures, and very easy on the eyes. Their wings are like mini canvasses on which the Great Artist displays awesome patterns and designs, eliciting awe and amazement. They are indeed magnificent in their awe inspiring adornments and have the wow factor.
Aside from being “eye candy”, the life story of each butterfly is inspiring. The butterfly was not always this beautiful and it’s presence was not always desirable. It was once a decidedly uncool and ugly caterpillar creeping and crawling its way through life. When it was a caterpillar there were no flashes from the camera’s of adoring fans, no jewelries depicting it’s image or likeness. It did not defy the constraints of gravity, and was certainly not easy on the eyes.
We can identify with the caterpillar, in certain areas we are crawling and trudging through life. People do not take us seriously, we do not even take ourselves seriously. It is like we expect to open the dictionary and find our pictures next to the descriptions of unsuccessful, failure, common, mediocre, nobody (the list is endless). However we all always start out as caterpillars, even the butterflies (successful) people we all so admire. I always find it fascinating when I watch films for a second time and recognize bit part (minor) actors/actresses that I had previously not paid any attention to. Of course the only reason I now recognize them is that they are now famous stars, they are now butterflies worthy of notice.
It is easy to remember Rahab as an ancestor of Jesus Christ who was given a place of pride in the roll call in Matthew 1:5 and forget she was once a prostitute. Oprah Winfrey as a child, grew up in the shadow of poverty and sexual abuse, and Countless celebrities recount negative experiences that occurred before they became famous. We all have to go through the caterpillar stage (no exceptions).
“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new” - 2 Corinthians 5:17
Comparing the butterfly at it’s full adult stage with when it was at the caterpillar stage yields no iota of resemblance. It is like looking at two different creatures; beauty and the beast would be an apt derscription. There are two ways to see a caterpillar, as it is (ugly ugly ugly) or as it will soon be (pretty pretty pretty). When God looks at us He looks at our potential, as He said to Samuel “for man looks at the outward appearance, but the LORD looks at the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:7b). He sees what we will become, and that is how we should see ourselves.
The caterpillar doesn’t see itself as just a caterpillar, it sees it self as a pre-butterfly so it eats and eats (boy can they eat) preparing itself for the metamorphosis to come. While Moses was in the desert unnoticed he was learning the art of leadership (shepherding sheep) and responsibility. In his pre presidential days, president Obama was writing books and forming his philosophy and learning all we so admire in him right now. The season when we haven not “made it’, is the time to search the word, develop and build ourselves up in readiness for what is to come.
In order to experience the most extreme makeover possible, the caterpillar has to go into a pupal stage. A stage of inactivity, away from everything else. Some of us are at a stage where we have the talent but are not recognized. We haven’t had our breakthrough yet, “nuffing is happening”. It could be that God has sent us into the pupal stage where He shields us away from everything so we can fully develop and mature into what He has ordained for us. Considering King Saul and King David, one can postulate that the latter soared and the former crashed and burned as a result of the absence of a pupal stage for King Saul. King Saul felt he was not ready to be King, and once he was anointed he was thrust into being responsible and defending a nation, something he was not prepared for (1 Samuel 9 and 10). However when David was anointed, he did not become king immediately. God took him into exile away from the kingdom of Israel to learn how to build an army, forge alliances with nations, learn the art of war and man management. David went through the pupal stage. Remember he had been proclaimed king but was not even living in his kingdom much less being it’s ruler. However that period of “nothing happening” as regards the kingdom of Israel helped make him the Legend we speak of today.
At the age of 12 Jesus was debating the top theological minds, yet His ministry didn’t start till he was 30. Jesus was put into Chrysalis for 18 years, 18 long years of inactivity, 18 long years when nobody heard of Him and He was just a carpenter. Yet consider the results when His ministry took off. We can not develop ourselves whilst at the top, when we get there(the top) we have to be already developed. What keeps us at the top are the things we are learning now, the knowledge we are acquiring now. If we are not ready, we will crumble like King Saul and the so many young celebrities we see who have been crushed under the sheer weight of fame they were not prepared for. So rather than moan and whinge that God is hiding us away for now, we should thank Him and make use of the privacy he has arranged for us to develop and formulate what we will shock and awe the world with when we get our breakthrough.
One of the most magnificent and awesome sights in nature is when the Chrysalis(pupa) breaks open and the the butterfly emerges. “Nuffin’ ” was happening and all of a sudden something is happening! The creature emerging from the pupa bears no resemblance to what went in. The tall skinny man that was a community worker in Chicago is now strolling the corridors of power as the leader of the free world; the young black woman who for so long was helpless and maltreated is now fettered by cream of society and is so rich and influential that her word in the US carries more weight than even the Presidents’ in some cases (Oprah Winfrey); the carpenter amongst fishermen is the Name above all other names.
The creature which crawls into the chrysalis now flies, the beast is now a great beauty. That is the promise we have in Christ. No matter what we are now, we will be transformed to something glorious. The caterpillar was always a butterfly, hence no matter our present state or condition we are “Special”. We are wonderfully and fearfully made, and created in the image of God. Just as the caterpillar is a butterfly, so also are we wonderful and great even in the midst of our wretchedness. We just need to know this and let the process of transformation play out through the renewing of the mind (Romans 12:1-2).
Finally the butterfly knows when to break out of the chrysalis and take flight. We need to break out and fly. For a lot of us, that is what remains, to break out and fly like the butterfly and complete the transformation; to posses the “land” and destiny that God has given us.
As the most famous famous boxer said: FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY.
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