I carefully cut off the chrysalis’ branch, and another branch with just leaves, arranged it nicely in my pitcher, and set it on the counter to watch and wait. It was so beautifully shiny, all silver-coated… I checked on it every ten or fifteen minutes, to see if anything was happening.
Well, three days later, I was about to give up. I thought I’d either picked a dud or killed it. I almost put it outside that night, but decided there might be too many predators at night, and I’d put it out in the morning.
But in the morning, there was the butterfly!!
In the house, and out in the yard later, we watched it stretch and strengthen its wings. I’m not sure if it ever flew or not; we had to run some errands and it was gone when we came back. But I really enjoyed watching it, and I think Ashlyn and Bryan did too. J
Now it’s Friday night, and I’m feeling like a chrysalis. I read the story of baby Moses to the kids from the My Bible Friends series. I was again amazed at how dramatic and awful it must’ve been to Miriam, watching the princess come to the water there. The book says something like,
Oh! Oh! Oh!
The king’s daughter was coming! Would she find their baby?
Would she throw him into the water?
How desperately she must’ve been praying for Moses’ safety right then! And undoubtedly the whole family had prayed many times for his safety before. You know that the parents were still praying for their son, no matter what else they were doing. But right there, in front of her eyes, Miriam saw the princess come. “Oh, no, God, please don’t let her see the basket!” But God seems to ignore that prayer, and her worst fears come true—but instead of it being her worst fears realized, she sees delight on the princess’ face! Who would have imagined that Jochebed could get paid to nurse her own forbidden baby?! Something great was waiting just on the other side of what looked like heartbreak and unanswered prayers.
Is my family in a chrysalis moment? Is there something great waiting on the other side, if only we’re brave enough to break out of our cocoon? Not something safe; there are no guarantees on that. There were a few spiders on that tree with butterfly-shaped packages. There were quite a few risks in letting toddler Moses go live with the wicked king’s daughter. God doesn’t promise us a risk-free life, either (although I kind of really wish He would!).
But there are prayers answered in ways we never could have imagined. There is the glory of flight and the sweet taste of nectar. There is the delight of being close to His heart, of being one of the LORD’s teammates!
So what am I really talking about here? I’m not sure of any details. I still can’t see through this comfy silver cocoon. All I know is that God is stirring our hearts, calling us to something greater, even if it shatters our little world to get there.
