Butterflies

A few weeks ago, I took a walk with some ladies at church. We were having a monthly women's ministry get together and we began with a 1 mile walk. It wasn't just any walk though. We had to walk the first 5 minutes in silence.

Silence. 20 or 30 women. Walking for 5 minutes in silence. We were put to the test in about a minute when 2 joggers ran towards us and said hello. We couldn't respond. I could almost feel the energy from the group as they strained to stifle the manners of a reply!

I was quite amazed at how quickly the 5 minutes went by. In the first moments, I noticed the trees. I thought of their longevity and what had they lived through; were they oblivious or did they notice everything?

I spotted two pale blue dancing butterflies, flying by, flirting with each other perhaps. I thought about how God created them, how He provides for them. And they know nothing. They live so simply, they know nothing of drama, sorrow or heartache. They don't know how to lie or cheat or steal.

Source http://www.dailylifeverse.com/posts/2013/02/matthew-6-26

I thought of how God provides for them, and how He provides so much more for us. And how He has given us the emotions and capacity that allow us to feel the drama, sorrow or heartache  of life. How He gives us the skills that we sometimes use for lies and cheating and stealing.

The butterflies don't know all that negative, yet nor do they know the opposite extreme either: love, joy, warmth.  He gave us the whole spectrum. All of it! Oh, how we don't use all that He has given, and yet He still gives. How we dwell on the downs it brings, and allow them to swallow the joys.

Sometimes it seems so much simpler, that life of the butterfly. But He didn't intend that simplicity for me, or for you. He wanted you to feel the emotions, to turn heartache into compassion, forgiveness and action; to use pain to learn; to use our skills for good.

Bold compassion often comes from the drama or the heartache or the pain. How can we deeply care about someone without putting our hearts on our sleeve and making it vulnerable? How can we really help if we don't deeply care? He cares. He built us to care. He made the butterflies sweet, gentle and light in heart, but He made us for so much more.