Its Thanksgiving week and our American holiday celebrations begin in earnest. And this is not a post focused on gratefulness, although I am truly grateful. This is not about advent and waiting for the extraordinary to break into the ordinary or about a holy longing leading to Christmas – although it is about my ordinary garden, waiting and the extraordinary butterfly.
In the fall of 2012, my husband planted a butterfly garden. A gift to me. Our daughters chuckled, “Um mom, aren’t you supposed to plant gardens in the spring?” Well, it is Texas. And the butterflies did come, drawn even in that initial fall.
My little garden is beautiful. My husband’s diligence in researching plants, local butterfly populations and host plants to attract females to lay their eggs has certainly paid-off. Our garden blossomed with life this season; a busy nursery to the Black Swallowtail, Monarch and Gulf Fritillary.
Monarch Caterpillar
I’ll admit I’ve done some crazy things on this caterpillar journey – like taking the caterpillars on a road trip to move a daughter. Yes, yes…I really did. Why you may ask? I couldn’t miss the narrow window of chrysalis formation. And it was amazing! It begins and finishes within minutes. I have also fought off predators – that mean ol’ red wasp, the vicious wheel bug and those little hairy jumping spiders.
Now, some of my friends have questioned my fervent interest in the butterfly life cycle. I have answered honestly about having missed out on this extraordinary process as a child. And there is more. I am a woman fascinated by the transformation process – its agony and its beauty.
Monarch
Metamorphosis is stunning. Spiritually speaking there has been much written about the fascinating analogy the butterfly provides for Christians. We often speak of birth, death and resurrection into a new creature. The caterpillar must die to its old self and experience the struggle of change in order to experience the resurrection of a new life. “If we are Christians who believe in the resurrection of the dead, and we believe, by faith, that with God all things are possible – the dead can live again!” It is our hope for eternity and our hope for today – to be changed, to be alive and to really truly live.
Black Swallowtail
So this past week, a Fritillary chrysalis passed its emergence by several days, I waited with tentative hope. Finally, I carefully lifted the lid of the terrarium to get a closer look. What I found looked dried-up and rather moldy. I began to doubt life, wondering if I wasn’t really looking at a little tomb. It was late, I was tired and my heart disappointed. I would discard the chrysalis and disinfect the container in the morning.
This morning, November 24, 2014, as I was cleaning up the breakfast dishes – a spot of orange caught my peripheral attention. A newborn Fritillary lying in the bottom of the terrarium struggling to flap its wings – Oh my friends never give up on life! Something or someone can look all so ever dead and you want to give up, then the fullness of life surprises you.
I gently took it out of its temporary home and carried it outside. Okay, after I took it to the office to excitedly show my husband. Finding a sunny spot on a tree, I carefully lowered it to build strength in the sun. I watched as it turned toward the light, fanning its wings and waiting. I was in awe.
Gulf Fritillary
Some of you like me have struggled long and hard for the change into new life. You have died to the old self and have been changed. And I wonder… are you caught up in the awe of who God created you to be – the very place where you are to reveal the very heart of God upon this earth?
And, to experience true life change…one must spread their wings and fly. The power of the change is in the ascension. Be the new creation, in this life. It is how we are empowered to do our Kingdom work here on earth. And it truly is the completion and perfection of God’s plan – His son’s birth, death, burial, resurrection and ascension. HOPE! He will come again and make all things NEW!!
Then again…hmmm…this is very much a post about gratefulness and advent; the extraordinary breaking into the ordinary.
Holy ground, my friends, Holy ground.
redeemingrobyn 