One of the ways that I celebrated Lent this year was by participating in a CEW (Christian Experience Week-end). When we arrived at the campsite, each participant was given a nametag with her name and a sticker of a caterpillar placed in a corner.
From Friday evening through Sunday afternoon, we heard from a number of Christian women who gave talks on a veriety of topics. Each talk was followed by discussion and a related activity. It was a wonderful time to get in touch with one’s spiritual side and to be challenged on how well we were living our lives as we are meant to live.
On Sunday, we viewed a video showing the life cycle of the butterfly, a process knon as metamorphosis. Each egg becomes a caterpillar which spins a chrysalis. In time lapse automation, we watch as the butterfly emerged from the chrysalis after a long struggle. An interesting fact is that if someone decided it would be a humantiarian thing to help it along by cutting the chrysalis so that the butterfly could emerge more quickly, their “kind” act would actually mean sure death for it. You see it is that long, slow struggle that results in the butterfly having the strength to fly.
This is the second time that I’ve seen this video and each time visions of our son have appeared in my mind. What kind of school experiences did you have? Several unfair events happened in his secondary days. As a kid who started out as ranked #1 in his class, he barely made it through high school graduation as a result of these unjust events. Consequently, he chose to skip college and enter the military. While I, as a mother, wasn’t too thrilled with his dicision, it turned out to be a real positive, After his Army years, he became a 4.0 Honor Society member in college and today is a very successful young man. He has a great job, is happily married, and last week, presented us with our third grandchild.
At the end of the conference, each of us was presented with a new nametag; This one with a picture of a butterfly replacing the caterpillar. While it was terrible having to watch our son go through these awful experiences, I can now realize that like the struggle the caterpillar must experience to emerge as the beautiful butterfly, it was these earlier struggles that Gregg had that helped him to become the man he is today.
As you observe the butterflies this spring, recall their life cycles. Then see if you can relate in some way how some past experience may have helped you become the person you are today.