This is not about the person who said this line, and I do not know if it really originated with her or not. It's about the line itself. I liked it when I first read it. I too am a fan of butterflies due to the new beginning and new life and the beauty of transformation symbolism. Even before I made the wrong choices and reacted poorly to the pain in my life, the butterfly represented new life to me. I blame The Boones. I think I wore out my record with The First Butterfly on it around the age of 10.
I love that idea, that it's never too late to transform, and that no matter what we've been crawling through as a caterpillar, something beautiful can come out of it. So I am not about to argue or nitpick semantics with this quote. I will expand on it though. You see, I tried to transform myself many times. I managed to do a decent imitation of change for a while. But it never lasted. Even things that I hated about myself I couldn't stop, or if I stopped, I couldn't stay stopped. Part of me kept being drawn to the flame, no matter how many times I ended up burned.
Of course I'm not saying that we can't be transformed. We can. I'm also not saying that such changes can't last. They can. I'm not even saying that we don't have a part in it. We most certainly do. But the truth is that the caterpillar never transformed itself into a butterfly, and we can't transform ourselves either. All the caterpillar did was follow the instructions imparted to it by the Creator, and Daddy's design brought the butterfly forth. Likewise, it's on us if we will surrender to the Master's hand and the Master's plan, but that's about the extent of our involvement in the change. His will or ours? That's the question, and our transformation depends on our answer. If we say His, surrender our will and life to Daddy's care, trusting on the great exchange of the work of Christ in our place and become His children, He begins the work, and He has promised to finish what He started. We are spiritually made new, like the butterfly, and one day, when the work is done, there will be no traces of the caterpillar.
What we are becoming is beautiful. We are each a unique creation of the Master Artist, but those who are His will one day be a perfectly unique reflection of Him. But that process is not instant or even quick, and I think we spend a lot of the process in the dark about what's going on and how the change is taking place. But we can trust the designer, no matter how dark it gets in the cocoon.
And while we have learned to identify the caterpillar and butterfly counterpoints, they are always different. You never see a butterfly living the life from before the cocoon. The caterpillar is gone. And our old self is gone as well. Now I'm not talking about the things that make you who you are, although it would include some things you thought identified and defined you but didn't. Some traits and characteristics and likes and dislikes will cross over, of course. But that part of us that enjoyed living for self and was at war with what is right won't make the transformation. It has to die. It's the ironic truth that you gotta die to get life and you'd be better off dead. But when the cocoon is created it doesn't instantly morph the caterpillar into the final product. And we don't undergo that instantaneous transformation either. For a period of time, if the creature is pulled from the cocoon, traits of both what was and what is to come can be seen. With passing time the traits of the butterfly increase and the caterpillar fades into history until the transformation is complete.
So, if you are tired of the mess and exhausted from attempting to change your life and failing to be able to make lasting changes and create a life worth living. If you're ready to give up devising ways to make yourself able to fly, there's good news. All you have to do is surrender to Daddy's design. He'll create the transformation, and He'll bring it about. We just have to submit ourselves to His hand and the work of Jesus on the cross that makes it possible. But if you join me on the road to true freedom, or if you are already a fellow traveler, please don't be discouraged or give up when the traits of the caterpillar still show through. The old self is dead, but not yet totally eradicated. It's a process of being transformed by grace. It is aiming for perfection while understanding that while we haven't reached it yet, we are making progress. Progress not perfection. Forgiveness and mercy that is new every morning from the Daddy who made us, called us to Himself and loves us as we are, not as we should be, and yet who loves us enough to transform us into the beauty we were always meant to be instead of leaving us the caterpillar.
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