Everyone that knows me knows how much I love butterflies, so when I saw the filter on Snapchat it was a no-brainer that I took a picture. It also reminded me of how amazing and beautiful butterflies are. I always loved them because of how they transform from caterpillars into these beautiful, unique creatures. Something about the butterfly is mesmerizing to me. When I see them, I instantly have a smile on my face as I take in their colors. As I started to think about them I decided to do a little more research because I felt that there was so much more to them than what I was seeing with my eyes. I realized that the creation of a butterfly is much like our spiritual walk. Let me share with you why I believe this to be.

 

I learned that butterflies start off as eggs and their egg shapes are dependent on the type of butterfly that laid that egg. Once the egg hatches we get to see the caterpillar that was inside. It could have been a positive word someone said to us, or act of kindness we encountered that laid the egg of our transformation, but it was how our journey of change began.

 

As a caterpillar all it does is eat. It even begins the process by first eating the leaf it was hatched on, which is why it is important to choose the leaf wisely. They begin to grow as they eat, but because their skin does not stretch they grow by shedding the outgrown skin several times. Let’s look at that from a spiritual place. When we start out we are crawling, or rather just slithering our way through life trying to eat. We have to be careful where we decide to hatch ourselves because if we are not fed properly, it could lead to our demise. As we are feeding ourselves and beginning to grow, there are going to be areas of our lives that we will need to shed. That could be old habits, people, or even pounds for all I’m concerned. Haha! If we don’t shed when needed it could stunt our growth and again, lead to our death (not being literal here). Every time we grow, we will need to go through that shedding process all over again. It might be painful, but it’s necessary. 

 

Once the caterpillar is done growing they form into a pupa. To us, it looks like it is resting but on the inside it is making a transformation or a ‘metamorphosis’ as I’d like to call it. The body of the caterpillar changes into a beautiful butterfly all while in the pupa stage. I think as we go through a metamorphosis ourselves, sometimes we need to take some time and rest. Get quiet and do an internal change. People may wonder what’s going on, but what they don’t see is that we are growing our wings. 

 

Once the butterfly comes out of the pupa, the wings are soft and folded against its body. It rests for a while then it begins to pump blood into the wings so it can fly. When we first transform our lives, we are going to be fragile. We are going to need our heart and mind fully engaged to combat those that will be trying to take us out so we can fly above them. 

 

Adult butterflies are constantly looking to reproduce themselves and that’s when the process repeats itself. When we get to a place that we are flying like a butterfly, we should be looking for others we can mentor and pour into so we can reproduce what we have on the inside of us into someone else. We have to put them on the right leaf so they can eat and get the right nourishment for their growth. 

 

See, I knew there was a reason I am so in love with butterflies. They speak to my spirit! I am a butterfly and so are you! 

In life, we are so hesitant to get into a relationship with people because we say that we need to get to know them first. This is totally logical because you never want to get yourself into bad situations by allowing someone into your “personal space” without knowing their intentions or at least knowing a little bit about who they are as a person. We want to know what they stand for, what happened in their past, how many people they dated, how many mutual friends you have, how many people are following them on Instagram. I mean we really want to go into some of the intricate details of the lives of others, but how often do we take the time to go into the intricate details of our own lives. How many times do we sit back and get to know ourselves? I know most people are thinking, “I know myself! I lived with myself for ## years, so I know who I am.” Is that really a true statement though?

A lot of who we become is not because of who we are, but is rather caused by the things, people, and even circumstances around us. So many people have heard stories of successful people that say, “I became a (insert occupation here) because my parents really wanted me to.” If they had it their way, they may have been an artist, dancer, musician, or something that really makes their heart smile. How many drug dealers do you know that were really smart and had so much potential but ended up on the corner because of the environment or the circumstances of their lives. There are so many examples of people becoming who they are strictly because of other “things” outside of themselves. If you are able to sit back and truly think about WHO you are as a person, what would you say? Do you even know who you are?

For me, this has taken a lot of time to figure out and even when I think I know, something comes up that teaches me a little more about who I am. I am going to continue on this path of learning and growing because I know that it will lead me to my destiny. It will lead me to the calling that was placed on my life. It will teach me how I can be of service to others in a way only I can be. I am looking forward to every day of this journey of getting to know ME!

“This above all: to thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.”

-William Shakespeare