What Butterflies Are Teaching Me About Becoming a New Creation

While I was out walking today, I saw so many beautiful yellow butterflies.

I couldn't help but think of my mama with great joy.

There is just something about seeing a butterfly that makes me stop and notice. Maybe it's because of what a butterfly represents—change, growth, transformation.

And as I watched them flutter around, I started thinking about how much we, as women, are like butterflies.

God knew us before the foundation of the world. He knew us when we were being knitted together in our mother's womb. He knew who we would become, the families we would grow up in, the experiences we would have, and the things we would walk through.

My mama used to say something that has always stuck with me.

She believed that God places a child in a family because He sees something in that family's DNA that child needs.

Now, I know that can be a hard thought for some of us.

There are women who grew up in wonderful homes filled with love and encouragement.

And there are women who grew up in homes that were anything but that.

Some had very authoritative parents. Others had passive parents. Some grew up feeling secure and loved, while others grew up feeling like they had to fend for themselves.

And if we're honest, how we were raised often affects how we see the world and the people in it.

I'm learning this in my own life.

Over the last several months, I have been doing a lot of self-examination and reflection. I've been asking myself questions like, Why do I respond the way I do? Why does this bother me so much? What makes me tick? Why do I react this way?

I'll be honest—it hasn't always been easy.

It has been hard.

And it has been eye-opening.

Just when I think I have something figured out, something else happens and I realize, Oh, I still have some work to do here.

Maybe you can relate.

From caterpillar to butterfly

Think about the life of a butterfly.

It begins as an egg. Then the egg hatches and a caterpillar emerges.

The caterpillar's primary job is to eat and grow.

And isn't that a little like us?

We go through different stages of growth throughout our lives. We learn. We experience things. We make choices. We develop our personalities and our ways of responding to the

world around us.

Some of those experiences are wonderful.

Some are painful.

Some shape us in ways we don't even realize until we're much older.

And then comes the next stage.

The caterpillar finds a safe place and forms a hard covering around itself.

And I think many of us do something very similar.

We develop a shell.

We put up walls.

We learn how to protect ourselves.

Sometimes we even put on a mask.

We smile and say we're fine when we're really hurting.

We look like we have everything together when, underneath it all, we're struggling.

Maybe we have things in our past that we're not proud of.

Maybe we've made choices that hurt us or other people.

Maybe someone hurt us, and we've carried that hurt for years.

So, we stay inside our shell because it feels safer there.

The problem is, God didn't create us to stay in the shell.

God didn't leave us there

There is something beautiful about the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly.

The caterpillar doesn't stay a caterpillar forever.

It changes.

It becomes something completely different.

And I think that's such a beautiful picture of what God wants to do in our lives.

He doesn't want us to remain trapped by our past.

He doesn't want our hurts, our mistakes, our fears, or the way we were raised to define who we are forever.

Jesus came to set us free from sin.

And when we place our faith in Christ, we become a new creation.

That doesn't mean everything changes overnight.

At least it hasn't for me.

For me, letting go of the past and learning to live in the present has been a process.

A long process.

And, if I'm being completely honest, it is still a process.

The Holy Spirit continues to show me things I need to surrender.

Things I need to forgive.

Things I need to change.

Things I need to stop carrying.

And sometimes I wish God would just show me everything at once and get it over with!

But maybe that's not how He works.

Maybe part of the beauty is that He walks with us through the process.

Little by little.

Step by step.

Grace upon grace.

What about you?

Is there a “shell” you've been hiding in—something you've used to protect yourself from hurt, fear, or your past?

Maybe today is a good day to ask God to show you what He wants you to surrender to Him, one little piece at a time.

What might God be inviting you to let go of today?

Every time I see a butterfly now, I want to remember that I am not who I used to be.

I am a new creation in Christ.

Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians 5:17:

“Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”

I don't have to live forever inside the shell I built to protect myself.

I don't have to let my past determine my future.

I don't have to pretend that I have everything together.

I can allow God to continue His transforming work in me.

And maybe that's what those yellow butterflies reminded me of today.

My mama may have been the first person who made me think about the significance of how God places us where He does.

But today, I found myself thinking about something even bigger.

God knew me before I knew myself.

He knows every part of my story.

He knows the beautiful parts.

He knows the painful parts.

He knows the parts I'm still trying to understand.

And He isn't finished with me yet.

So, I'll keep growing.

I'll keep surrendering.

I'll keep allowing Him to work on the places in my heart that still need healing.

And I'll keep looking for those butterflies.

Because every time I see one, I want to remember:

I am still becoming.

I am still growing. And in Christ, I am a new creation.

Until next time,

Beth