Friday, June 06, 2008

"Just when the caterpillar thought the world was over, it became a butterfly!"

This quote Val and I saw yesterday on a mug as we were out shopping. It was sooo simple, yet poignant in it's meaning, and it really touched my heart at a time of great personal need. It also really made me stop and think about God in a new way...and about His care for me!

Before the caterpillar could be changed, it had to die to self...or literally go to sleep and give up it's will and it's agenda. No more branches to travel and no more sweet leaves to indulge upon. Of course, if it had not obeyed the call of nature, it would never have been sooo beautifully refashioned and remade.

Now, obviously, no one has ever gotten in the mind of a caterpillar to see what it is thinking...but just imagine how we'd feel if our whole world was literally turned upside down. Just imagine what we'd think if an unseen voice said "Just trust me...something better will come, but for now...I need you to put your wants and cares, your desires and your needs to sleep. You have to be still and let go of your agenda and your plans. You need to die..."

What if there was no voice at all...just a series of events that threw our life into uncontrollable caus?! Suddenly, everything was becoming "mush" and there was nothing we could do but just hold on to the one single little twig of a branch that we had remaining...

The process for the caterpillar is simple. (Well, not really!) But we've learned about it since grade school and it's called "metamorphosis" which simply means: To experience a marked change in appearance, character, condition, or function, also called transformation. (That is scientifically speaking of course.) But we, as Christians, know that this process is nothing short of a miracle that science has yet to explain or completely understand.

Amazingly, this very process also takes place spiritually in our own hearts. If we are truly seeking to serve God and prepare for Heaven, it either: IS happening, HAS happened, or WILL happen...

Hmmm....maybe that's why so many of our hopes and dreams are being turned completely upside down right now?! Maybe that's why so many things seem to be falling apart or going wrong!!

As I think about my heart and life, the mistakes I've made, the agony I've experienced through recent trials, and the complete helplessness I feel for the tasks ahead of me to fully become what I know God has created me to be, I'm encouraged as I see the transformation of the caterpillar. If God could care so much about the details of life that he could change a caterpillar...and not only change the caterpillar, but create it to be something simply beautiful and amazing, how much more can I trust Him to change me?? If he notices when a single sparrow falls to the ground and experiences loss, how much more does He notice when I cry and when I feel loss??

"Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows." Matt 10:29-31

Sometimes this is hard to comprehend and hard to understand...but I lift up my head with joy and hope as I see the great God I love and serve, and am seeking to understand more. Nothing is too hard for God...nothing!!! The most ugly circumstance, the most bitter trial, the most heartbroken tears...nothing can get in the way of the beautiful creation He is making in our heart and lives. Nothing is too great for God...If He can change a caterpillar...He can change me!

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." II Cor 5:17

Some more thoughts of inspiration from the pen of inspiration...

"The Intimacy of God's Care for Us"

"Jesus taught his disciples to pray. He directed them to present their daily needs before God. As we realize our dependence upon God for both temporal and spiritual blessings, we may offer up fervent and effectual prayer. Our great need is in itself an argument that pleads most eloquently in our behalf. Your wants, your joys, your sorrows, your cares, your fears, you may present before God. You cannot weary Him, you cannot burden his heart. Nothing is too great for Him to bear; for He upholds the worlds and rules the universe. Nothing is too small for his notice; for He marks the sparrow's fall, and numbers the hairs of your head. He is not indifferent to the wants of his people.

The Lord is very pitiful and of tender mercy. He is touched by our sorrows, and even the utterance of them moves his great heart of infinite love. There is no chapter in our experience too dark for Him to read, no perplexity too complicated for Him to unravel. Our Heavenly Father is not un-observing; He sees our tears, He marks our sighs, He notes our joys and sorrows. "He healeth the broken heart, and bindeth up their wounds."

The relation between God and each soul is distinct. His care to you is as minute as though there were no other soul to claim his attention. The psalmist says, "Thou understandest my thought afar off. Thou compassest my path and my lying down, and art acquainted with all my ways. There is not a word in my tongue, but lo, O Lord, Thou knowest it altogether. Thou hast beset me behind and before, and laid thine hand upon me." "Thou tellest my wanderings; put Thou my tears in thy bottle; are they not in thy book?"

In the words of the psalmist is expressed the intimacy and tenderness with which God cares for his creatures. "For we have not an High Priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities, but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need." Messenger, January 4, 1893

I praise the Lord today for the HOPE and COURAGE that He has given me in the simple lesson of the caterpillar...Here I've been complaining about losing my legs...and God, He wants sooooo much more for my life! He wants to give me WINGS!!!!!

"Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us..." Eph 3:20

"But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him." I Cor 2:9

1 comment:

Phillip Platz said...

Beautiful post! When you mentioned metamorphosis and explained the changing of our hearts I knew I just had to share this with you: there's a word for that, and it kind of reminds me of metamorphosis: it is "metanoia". It is a "change in one's way of life resulting from penitence or spiritual conversion."

And I think God has dropped enough hints for me. My heart has been changed.