Be a Butterfly


Many people live in the cocoons of their own habits unaware that a butterfly is possible! The Bible describes this almost unimaginable process in 2 Corinthians 5:17: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he (and she) is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come."  God, through the Bible and nature, shows us that transformation is possible! Butterflies emerge from cocoons!
     Trapped in darkness and swathed in unremarkable larva, the insect gradually slips out of its cocoon into the light, now adorned with wings of beauty. Our lives hold the same possibility. The first step in our transformation takes place when we encounter our Lord Jesus.    We recognize our darkness, our struggles, and admit our brokenness. 
     With willingness to repent and by our invitation, He comes to release us from our cocoons. His finished work on the cross as our sacrificial Lamb bestows the gift of unconditional love upon us and delivers us into beautiful possibilities. We abide in His light and depend on Him for our new life of redemption. He takes residence in our hearts. It's too good to be true, but it is!  Take heart! The Lord removes cocoons and off we fly! Beautiful!

My husband Poet Paul Samuels describes transformation in his poem 
"Metamorphosis."
The caterpillar climbs a tree and finds what it considers an appropriate place 
It creates a cocoon, a safe haven for the process of re-birth
Somehow, without dying it ceases to be what it once was 
Perhaps the process is without pain. No one really knows except the caterpillar
And those memories stay in the cocoon, for the butterfly moves too freely  
To carry a burden of any sort but what of me?
How do I find a safe haven for this process of rebirth occurring within me? 
Surely, I'm not dying, it just feels that way 
as old patterns of survival are revealed 
as trails to destruction of relationships which count 
and cannot take the strain   

But I cannot climb. There is no cocoon!
The process isn't hidden and there is pain 
Yet, even in this hurt that cuts deep within to those
Places which contain the ways of the past 
There is hope, because the surgery in process
Is being performed by the Spirit of God 
Who has the power to heal in such a way
So that as time passes, I too, can leave behind
Those burdens too heavy to carry, in a cocoon,
I cannot see and move along
As the butterfly-FREE
(c) 2013 Expressions of Life 
www.paulsamuels.com




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