It would appear that this year there are a whole lot of butterflies about. Maybe the weather has been just right for them, but I for one can not remember seeing so many in a long time.
They have a wonderful circle of life starting as they do on the ground as caterpillars and then turning into a cocoon for their transformation for a short spell into butterflies. Thinking about them always brings a smile to my face.
My son when he was a child used to love the book, the Hungry Caterpillar, he would want it read over and over again, pre-empting the words - you know what children can be like! Anyway the fascination for this particular book was during his potty training phase and I can remember with great clarity the day he first managed to use the potty successfully for #2’s. Was I allowed to dispose of it, was I hell as like! His offering was a cocoon which would turn into a butterfly and the last place it was going was down the toilet. Try as I might I couldn’t convince him and in the end had to be very sneaky about the whole thing. How I could have done with the perfusion of butterflies that day, although that in itself might have led to more problems in the long run – having to find a butterfly every time he was successful!
A caterpillar’s life revolves around survival, avoid being eaten and in turn, do as much eating as possible. Okay so unless we travel to somewhere where there are lions or crocodiles that first part is unlikely to effect us, and we really shouldn’t do as much eating as possible for our own health’s sake - but we are still remarkably like caterpillars, getting on with life, trying to avoid the pitfalls that will slow or stop our progress, looking for the greener grass! A caterpillar’s aim is to become a cocoon, to transform into a butterfly and reach its full potential. What is our aim? What are we striving to achieve, to become, as we go about our day, our life?
For Christians the caterpillars’ transformation into a butterfly speaks of death and rebirth into a new life free from the bounds of the earth and all that holds us back, a life of beauty and sweetness. A life after death but also a life of freedom here and now, a life that means whatever the world throws at us we can rise above it, into the beauty of God’s presence.
‘For the creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God; for the creation was subjected to futility, not of its own will but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.’
Romans 8:19-21
