Sparrow, Our Little Butterfly

Are not two sparrows sold for a copper coin? And not one of them falls to the ground apart from your Father’s will. But the very hairs of your head are all numbered. Do not fear therefore; you are of more value than many sparrows. (Matthew 10:29-31, NKJV)

My girls and I have been observing, researching, and documenting monarch butterflies for a homeschool project. One of my girlfriends was kind enough to share some caterpillars from her backyard. We brought them home, set up a very cool habitat, and watched our caterpillars eat and eat and grow and grow. They ate so much it seemed they nearly doubled in size every day. (John 6:35) Then, one by one, they formed their chrysalis and it was beautiful. The outside was green with gold dots all the way around the top. They looked like tiny little space ships. Each chrysalis was attached to a leaf or stick by one very delicate looking tiny string. It has been quite an amazing transformation to watch. 

We learned once the chrysalis becomes transparent the butterfly soon emerges leaving it’s dead, empty shell behind as it had become a beautiful new creature! (2 Corinthians 5:17)

During this project, of course, my “blog postiness tendencies” screamed at all the bible studies that kept spinning through my heart! I kept waiting for “the" lesson straight from Heaven.

Early Thursday morning, our last butterfly was due to break free from it’s chrysalis. We knew the time was at hand because the chrysalis was clear and we could partially see the butterfly's wings inside. But for some reason, our last butterfly did not develop correctly and was not able to completely break free from the chrysalis. Once we saw there was a problem, my girls got very upset and starting saying things like, “Oh something is terribly wrong!”, “He is going to die!”, “He can’t make it out!" and “He’s so tired from all the pressure of trying to break free."

I said, “You can choose life, or you can choose death. If I were you, I’d speak life.” (Deuteronomy 30:19, Psalm 118:17, Proverbs 18:21)

Immediately they began cheering the butterfly on. For over half hour, they repeated, “You will live! You will not die! You are strong! Come on little butterfly, you can live!" Once their decision was made to speak life, they never wavered. (Deuteronomy 30:19, Psalm 188:17, James 1:6)

Every few minutes, he got tired of fighting and it appeared the little butterfly gave up. After monitoring him for several hours, we learned during this process he wasn’t giving up at all. He was resting. (Isaiah 40:31) The butterfly hung with one wing still attached to the chrysalis as the weight of most of his body (which was free) pulled in the opposite direction. (Romans 7:15, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, James 5:16) Just when it appeared all was lost, he’d come alive and fight as hard as he could to break free. The butterfly repeated this process for approximately five hours. He was able to get his left wings and body out of the chrysalis in less than five minutes but the wings on his right side never broke free. The wings on his right side had dried to the chrysalis. What had protected and nurtured him for a season, now bound him and restrained him from becoming everything he was created to be. (Ecclesiastes 3:1, Colossians 1:16) As hard as he tried, he could not break free alone. 

Late Thursday night, my girls decided to take matters into their own hands. They couldn’t stand watching the butterfly struggle any longer. They were confident if they removed the butterfly from the chrysalis, he would live, even though it meant losing two of his wings. My girls decided, a living “half butterfly” was a better alternative than a whole dead butterfly. They, as gently as possible (given we didn’t have any butterfly anesthetic readily available) cut the butterfly free from it’s chrysalis where his wings attached to his body. 

Not only did the butterfly survive it’s “surgery”, he started to eat right away and my girls decided to name him, Sparrow!

Today is Saturday. Sparrow began his struggle to break free on Thursday. Sparrow survived the ordeal and is alive today but doesn’t have the two wings that dried to and never broke free from the chrysalis. All outside appearances tell us Sparrow is half a butterfly. He isn’t exactly what we thought he would be when this whole process began but he seems happy and content to be who he is in his new habitat. My girls carry him everywhere in his little house made special just for him, feed him fresh fruit, have introduced him to everyone in our neighborhood, and continue to tell what the LORD has done. (Luke 8:39)

Have you ever:

• Had something go terribly wrong?
• Felt as if you were dying?
• Thought you’d never make it out?
• Grown tired from all the pressure?
• Felt like “half a butterfly”? 
• Struggled to get free of something or someone trying to hold you “captive"?
• Felt like you had been cut in half?

Outside appearances can lead us to believe something completely different than what is going on in someone’s inside. If this is you, I have a good report for you today! Your life may not be exactly what you thought it would be, but you can be happy and content beyond anything you can think of or ask for, leaving you to tell the wonderful goodness of God! (Ephesians 3:20-21) You can overcome by the word of your testimony and the Blood of the Lamb! (Revelations 12:11)

If any of the above describes you, please email us at keytovblog@gmail.com or connect with us on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/keytovblog, we want to pray with you and refer you to help if necessary.

Father, in the name of Jesus, thank You when Jesus is our portion, a constant friend is He! His eye is on the sparrow, and we know He watches over us! ( Lyrics, His Eye is on the Sparrow)

Our Race

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us. (Hebrews 12:1, NLT)

My girls are on swim team and we are right in the middle of swim season. It has been an exciting season!

Our team has an amazing coach. He is the perfect balance between fun, encouragement, perseverance, and discipline. We go to practice three times per week. Coach is on the pool deck where he has a higher vantage point and he can see the areas my girls need to work on and improve. During practice, Coach encourages them to practice their stroke, perfect their skill, build strength and endurance.

In between practices, we are in our pool, daily. Mike and I encourage our girls to listen closely to what Coach tells them and to swim according to his instruction. 

Their team uniform is sleek, high speed, low drag. They also wear a swim cap. No jewelry, etc is allowed because they don't wear anything that will weigh them down. 

One of the most moving things I've ever seen is their teammates standing on the pool deck screaming their names and cheering them on to finish! They scream, "Go! Go!" and "You can do this!" They start screaming as soon as the buzzer sounds and they don't stop screaming until after they help them out of the water. And then, they hug them, pat their backs, and tell them how great they swam. Even when they don't swim perfectly. 

Race day is not instruction day. Race day is not the time and place for practicing, building, or perfecting. When race day comes, there is no time for instruction. Race day is the result of everything they've done (or not done) in the days prior to the race. We are all there to cheer them on. But the one who swims the race, is Mikea and Gracie. They stand alone at the lane they are assigned. They alone cross the finish line. 

Our lives are much like swim team. For everything there is a season, a time for every activity under heaven. (Ecclesiastes 3:11, NLT) God is our Ultimate Coach! He gifts us apostles, prophets, evangelists,  pastors, and teachers (Ephesians 4:11, NLT). They are gifts from God and should be treated accordingly. God placed them in our lives to help us practice, perfect, and build us up. We are surrounded by huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith. And we are surrounded by amazing friends! Both stand on the sidelines of our lives and cheer us on until our race is finished! They all hold our feet to the fire and expect us to hold tight to His instruction! Everything we do (and don't do) contributes to how we run our race. We must train daily according to His Word, strip off every weight, consciously refuse to be weighed down, and run our race with endurance!