Butterfly

A few weeks ago our little town presented a "caterpillar parade" to mark the kick off for spring. The kids (by the hundreds) doned their wagons and bikes and carried balloons and noise makers! WE (yes the Broadus girls) paraded through the town to the magic show! While the girls were enthralled with show I snuck away to adopt a caterpillar cocoon. The city had them all ready to go!

The girls were delighted we were going to have a butterfly guest very soon! We put ours in the pantry bc it has low light and is cool but not cold.

After 7 days we went in to check on it and there it was! Our cocoon had hatched and we had a beautiful butterfly!

We allowed him/her to dry off then we opened up the case, expecting the butterfly to fly away.

But...It did not. Our butterfly (the girls named it sparkles) pranced around the edge of the container but never flapped its wings. For 45 minutes the butterfly tiptoped to the grass, then back into the container. Then back to the grass. Then back to the container. The girls were SURE that Sparkles wanted to stay with us forever, thats why she wouldn't leave.

However, as a person going through alot right now, I felt for Sparkles. Here she was once a little caterpillar then all the sudden. BOOM. A butterfly. She had to learn to fly, learn to live life with wings. She didn't have to stay on the ground anymore, she could now fly!

 My mind started to wonder as I watched Sparkles. God is amazing. He has created all of u,s butterfly to human, and yet as different as we all are...in ways, we are the same. New experiences make us cautious, like leaving our container for the first time. The grass feels different, this new body is strange. But yet, it is okay. Its okay to experience new things, even if they are scary. Its okay to climb up and just soak in the new life. we get ready to fly...

 Then we land, sometimes it takes a few times to get it right,

 but when we do, we can soar!