Cocoon
One of my favorite books is Hope for the flowers by Trina Paulus, if you have not read it; it is worth a half hour of your time. If you have kids they need to here the story of the caterpillar pillar and the longing for something more.
If you have ever watched the process of a caterpillar making his cocoon it is a frenzy of work. He first has to prepare by eating enough to sustain him through the process. Then he works non stop until he seals the very last hole in his cocoon. Once the cocoon is complete and the hard work is over he will rest and the slow process of becoming a butterfly starts.
Once the process is finished the butterfly has to fight and struggle to get free of the cocoon. Watching the butterfly struggle, you just want to help and rip open the cocoon for him. If you help him the butterfly will die. He won’t be strong enough to fly. The struggle has to take place so the butterfly’s wings will be strong enough to fly.
Once the struggle is complete you have a beautiful butterfly, without the struggle no beauty.
What a beautiful metaphor for life. Life is hard and becoming is a lot of work. How many of us give up the struggle and stay safe in our cocoon never realizing the beauty that is on the outside of the work. Never being able to spread our wings and fly.
James tell us to consider it joy when we face the trails of life because on the other side is place were we are lacking nothing. What a beautiful place to be lacking nothing.
James 1:2-4
2Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, 3because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. 4Perseverance must finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything
God has been taking me out of my comfort zone a lot recently. Everything I used to be or I thought I was, is being replaced with what God wants me to be. For a long time I felt like I was swimming upstream. I was tired and my muscles ached and I could not see the end. I still can’t see the end but I have grown stronger from the struggle and I can see bits and pieces of what is ahead. I have to say that I like God’s vision of me a lot better then my vision of me. I feel like I am still in my cocoon but the struggle to get out has started. I know I can trust God to carry on to completion the work he has already started in me.
Philippians 1:6
6 being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.
I pray that God will give me the strength for the struggle and that I too will one day spread my wings and fly.
