Break free from your cocoon and learn to fly like a butterfly
“If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come!”
— 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NIV)
On a recent walk I noticed a small fuzzy, yellow creature crawling along the pavement.
It was a caterpillar. I reminisced how as a young girl I used to see them, creeping along, quite frequently on our sidewalk. I hadn’t seen one in years.
A few weeks later, a beautiful butterfly with blue dots on the edge of its coal black wings flew across my patio. As I watched it float through the air, I thought about the transformation of the caterpillar as it turns into an amazing butterfly.
It’s quite a change to go from crawling on the ground to sprouting wings to fly. The process of their transformation is a mystical wonder that takes place within the confines of a cocoon. Only the caterpillar can bring it into being as he works hard to spin a cocoon and then, when the time is right, go through more work to break loose from inside the binding.
The interesting thing is if anyone tries to help by cutting it loose, it won’t survive. The process of its transformation is a God-given wonder.
Just as the caterpillar turns into the butterfly, our spiritual transformation that takes place from unbeliever to believer in Christ is equally as wondrous. When God enlightens our hearts with knowledge of a change that is needed, we start feeling the convictions of right and wrong in that area of our lives.
These issues are different from person to person and are what keeps us bound like the cocoon of a caterpillar. God’s process to set us free is gentle and steady; however, the work we must do as we face the truth about our attitudes and actions can feel painful, like the caterpillar breaking from the cocoon.
But once we face them and start to make a change to overcome them, and receive forgiveness, we fly with the freedom and the weightless burden of the awesome butterfly!
We function at a higher level of thinking as we see things differently than before. Then after a time, we discover there is still more we need to transform and grow into the new spiritual nature that Jesus gave us example of.
I enjoy how God uses his nature to give us an example of how he works a new nature in our lives. Just like the caterpillar sprouting from the cocoon, we fight for the freedom to learn and grow.
Ÿ Annettee Budzban is a Christian author, speaker life coach and nurse. She will be speaking from 3-5 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 14, at Panera Bread in Round Lake Beach on the topic of Writing and Speaking for Fun and Profit. Due to limited seating, registration is preferred. There is no fee for the conference. Invite her to speak on any topic at your group or event. Contact her by calling (847) 543-8413 or email at Annetteebudzban@aol.com