Butterfly It!

Researching butterflies was one of the neatest things I did this week. I learned a lot about them in detail that was quite inspiring. I have always loved butterflies, and when I saw them I would see their varied beauty all around my mom's flowers. I have come to realize how much I took them for granted in the past. I'd think to my self, what a beautiful butterfly, and move on about my day. No thought to how much their life stages can be just like ours with our faith.

I recently came across this quote by Deborah Chaskin,

"Just like a butterfly, I too will awaken in my own time."

So I stopped and thought about that for a moment. Then it hit me..."This is my next blog."

 A Butterfly's Life Stage: (provided by www.thebutterflysite.com)
 Stage 1- The Egg: A butterfly starts life as a very small, round, or cylinderical egg. The egg shape depends on the butterfly that laid the egg.
Our Faith Stage 1: Being a Christian, rather it's born and raised or newly found, our faith starting out is that of a butterfly egg. It is small and still, sitting within our comfortable being. We all have the same God we are following but we have different life stories to provide the world, that God has given us in our lives. Some experiences provide different aspects to parts of our faith. (different egg shape= different situations that affects our faith)
Stage 2: Caterpillar or Butterfly Larve: When the egg hatches, the caterpillar will start his work and eat the leaf they were born onto. Caterpillars do not stay in this stage for very long and mostly in this stage all they do is eat. The mother butterfly needs to lay her eggs on the type of leaf the caterpillar will eat- since thay are tiny and can not travel to a new plant, the caterpillar needs to hatch on the kind of leaf it wants to eat. The more they eat the more they instantly start growing and expanding. Their exoskeleton (skin) does not stretch and grow so they grow by "molting" (shedding the outgrown skin) several times while it grows.
Our Faith Stage 2: The way we are raised and who we surround ourselves with, affects us in different aspects. We absorb everything that is around us, (plant the butterfly eats). No matter what we are around: good, bad, happy, sad, angry, silly, or scared people; we too, take on those characteristics because it is right infront of us. Until we can be leaders to others for God and followers of Him, (Butterflies) we have experiences with the whole "rubbing off of or on" others. Either the good in us expands and grows, or the bad can. I have found that the more I'm around Godly people, the more "that energy" comes off onto me and the more I am wanting to know of Him and the Bible, and share what God is doing and has done for me. God didn't say being a Christian was going to be easy, just as he told the caterpillar it wasn't going to be straight-up butterfly when it was born. Our faith has to be worked and put through stages, just as that little caterpillar does to become that beauty of a butterfly. We have to grow by making mistakes along the way, (our exoskeleton).  Like the exoskeleton,we can not grow or expand with it. This being, we cannot keep repeating our old mistakes and grow, so we need to let go of them, learn from them, and put them in the past. Just as the butterfly sheds it's skin during the "molting" stage.
Stage 3: Pupa (Chrysalis) The pupa Stage is one of the coolest stages of a butterfly's life. As soon as a caterpillar is done growing and they have reached their full/weight they form themselves into pupa, also know as a chrysalis. From the outside of the pupa, it looks as if the caterpillar may just be resting, but the inside is where all of the action is. Inside the pupa, the caterpillar is rapidly changing. Within the chrysalis the old body parts of the caterpillar are undergoing a remarkable transformation, called "metamorphosis",to become the beautiful parts that make up the butterfly that will emerge.
Our Faith Stage 3: The Bible is our chrysalis. We need to relish in it everyday. When you do that you begin to see things differently, with a more open-heart than ever before. I've noticed that quite a bit myself. When you study the Bible, you show the different side that no one is used to in this world. People may look at you weird because you react differently to any given situation because you see more to life than the little things that usually make people upset. Therefore, it looks like you are just letting people walk all over you (caterpillar resting) when in reality you are getting stronger inside for God. Your old ways are fleeing from you and are making you a beauty for God.
Stage 4: Adult Butterfly When the butterfly first emerges from the chrysalis, both of the wings are going to be soft and folded against its body. This is because the butterfly had to fit all it's new parts inside the pupa. As soon as the butterfly has rested after coming out of the chrysalis, it will pump blood into the wings in order to get them working and flapping- then they get to fly! When this final stage of their lives are completed adult butterflies are constantly on the look out to reproduce and when a female lays their eggs on some leaves the butterfly cycle will start all over!
Our Faith Stage 4: This is our time to shine brightly for God. Getting out of our comfortable self and start breaking out for others to see what God is really about! When we break out and spread to others what we are experiencing and how God has guided us, been with us, and taken care of us; then we are seeds or, in the butterfly case, (planting eggs) in other people's lives. We can help make this a reoccurring cycle!

It might sound weird to compare our faith to that of a butterfly's life cycle, but I couldn't help thinking about it especially with spring coming our way soon! It's just amazing how His time is always perfect, and He knows when we are ready and able to do what He wants. God made us each beautifully different from everyone else, just as he did all kinds of colorful butterflies!

So keep being UnAshamed about who you are with God and have a wonderful Easter weekend!