There once was a butterfly who crawled like she was still a caterpillar. Caterpillar life was confined to a small space & that was just fine with her. Life was a slow & methodical 16 steps at a time.
Now that she was a butterfly, she had 14 fewer feet but could travel a far greater distance with her extravagant wings. They were beautiful to gaze upon, but she didn’t like the attention.
One day as she crawled along the ground like her old caterpillar self, a fellow butterfly hovered above & asked what she was doing.
She said she didn’t like being a butterfly, that her old life felt more like home.
The hovering butterfly replied with disbelief, “Are you kidding me? Do you not realize the great responsibility you now have? The flowers need you!
You may only have two feet, but they’ll no longer carry you. Your wings carry you while you carry seed. The pollen you pick up at one flower helps another produce fruit & prosper! Girl, you’re missing out! Butterfly life is the best life! You can’t UNbecome a butterfly, so stop crawling like a caterpillar! We’ve got work to do!”
Y’all,, God created that little story in the recesses of my thoughts as I read about Simon of Cyrene this morning. He was plucked from a crowd of onlookers & forced to carry Jesus’s cross on the way to Golgotha.
Simon didn’t choose to carry the cross, but Jesus foretold our calling when He said, “Pick up your cross & follow Me.” What a visual of the weight that comes with following The One who saved us…
We all have beautiful wings of sorts…some Divine gift that has the ability to carry us far. The purpose of the wings are not simply to “travel abroad”, however, but to pollinate the people with the Gospel of Jesus Christ!
Life before Jesus was familiar & comfortable. It didn’t require much of us. But now that we've got these “wings”, much is required!
What are the gifts God has given you? Things that stun the onlookers in your life because they come with such ease? Maybe you’re a gifted speaker? You’re like a pied piper with children? You love numbers? Maybe order comes easy or tech is like a 2nd language? You help people make connections? Maybe it’s even your physical appearance?
We ALL have facets of our Father given for the sole purpose of His glory! We may long for the former days when much wasn’t required, but the Lord has need of EACH of us!
We cannot UNbecome a butterfly, so are we willing to quit crawling like a caterpillar?
JUDGES 7:1-8:17
LUKE 23:13-43
PSALM 97:1-98:9
PROVERBS 14:7-8
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