From Caterpillar to Butterfly: Finding Strength in Struggles

A Butterfly’s Metamorphosis

Have you ever seen a butterfly emerge from a cocoon? Before it went in it was a creature that crawled around on the ground, on plants and on things. The caterpillar form of the butterfly, some would call ugly, is just the early stage of life for this creature. I have never thought of a caterpillar as ugly just different. Most people that I know see the caterpillar as what they are. An earlier stage of what will become a beautiful flying creature.

Before the caterpillar can go from being a ground crawler to a sky flier they have to go through a metamorphosis. They have to eat and grow. During their life they eventually come to a place where they instinctively know that they have to change so they begin to create a chrysalis or shell that will protect them from the elements in order that they may begin their transformation process.

That change isn’t easy. It involves waiting and struggle. As the caterpillar seems to be asleep inside of its chrysalis it’s little body is shedding its fat chubby exterior and growing skinnier, developing wings and preparing for the time it will emerge as a beautiful butterfly.

When the time comes for them to emerge from the chrysalis the butterfly begins to struggle with breaking out of its shell. In order for a butterfly to survive in the world it must struggle to get out. During its struggle to get out it is strengthening its body and wings to be able to prepare to live outside of its protected shell. If you try to “help” a butterfly emerge you will unintentionally disrupt its life cycle and seal its fate because it wouldn’t have developed its strength. The butterfly needs the struggle of breaking free of the “old” life in order to make it strong enough to live its “new” life.

Over the past couple weeks butterflies have come up in conversation and even in books. The Lord was showing me some things through it. He was showing me two things. 1. That beauty does come from ashes.(Isaiah 61:3) 2. That some have to go through the struggle in order to be strong enough to live the life God wants them to live.

Now let me be very clear here. God doesn’t put struggle on you. In fact he would prefer that you didn’t have to go through them. That you would just trust His Word. But there are those who have never heard the Word before, so they don’t know that they don’t have to go through the struggle. And there are those who think they know better and unfortunately go through struggles that they have put themselves in. But there are also those that Satan will attack and you have to have the faith to overcome those struggles. Remember God does not bring bad things on you. It is Satan that comes to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10). However, God will use those things to help us and strengthen us in our faith so that we can overcome whatever the devil and his minions throw at us.

Many times I’ve heard my husband say that he wished he could go back and do things differently because we wouldn’t have had so many struggles in life. But, as much as we went through, I don’t know that I would go back and change it too much because had we not gone through those struggles then we wouldn’t be strong enough to stand together the way we do now.

The past struggles have helped me to build my faith, shown me who I can rely on, and kept me in communion with God. As much as we don’t want to have to go through the struggles of life or even see our children walk through struggles. God can use that to weed out things, to show us reality and to even grow our faith.

Think about the prodigal. It wasn’t when he had all the money in the world and all the so-called “friends” around that he saw the truth about his life. No it was when he was struggling in the pig pen that his eyes were open and he came to himself. It was at that point that he knew what he had to do. It was when the fun stopped and the struggle began that he found out the truth about his friends. The truth about his life and the what he needed to do in order to make change.

Don’t discount the struggles of life. Think of them as strength training. Through the struggles you are building your faith muscles. Use them as a catalyst to launch you into something better. Something that God can use to reach others.

I hope this was an encouragement for you today.

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