Last year, when I tried to harvest some dill to make cucumbers, I discovered my plants were destroyed...by little baby swallowtail butterfly caterpillars! I brought them inside and went to the store to buy organic dill for them to eat. Yes. Organic dill. <sigh>
This year, I have been able to use my dill, but we started talking about the dearth of monarchs in our area. Wanting to rectify the situation, we ordered monarch eggs. Not a few. No...that would have been normal. I ordered 20. At least 25 were on the plant we received! We have all been participating in the care and feeding of the little guys. They were SOOO teeny when they first hatched! Now, two weeks later, they're enormous! I cannot believe how fast they have grown in such a short time. We are looking forward to all the chrysalises and the new butterflies!
As I sat watching (and listening!) to the little buggers crunching away, I thought of this past year. It has not been pleasant. We have faced real challenges - individually and as a family. We have struggled with our gifting, our calling, our friends, our church, and our trust in the Lord. Now, God has been faithful, without a doubt. It's WE who have questioned and cried and prayed and groaned. But God - He has been where He promised He would be. With us.
My eyes fell to the instructions on raising monarchs. I love instructions. Love 'em. I love guides and planners and notepads and pens and lists. I don't always follow them, but I love them! It should take around two weeks for the caterpillars to turn into chrysalises, then another two weeks to hatch into butterflies.
I love how caterpillars change COMPLETELY during their metamorphosis. Apparently everything about them, organs included, change into something totally different during this time.And I thought of the verses in Corinthians: "behold, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old is gone, the new has come!" I cried as I realized that these butterflies should be hatching right about the time that our "drama" should be coming to a close. What a beautiful picture of the transformative work that Christ is doing in each of us. Leaving nothing old that we understand, that we have had, that we could depend on apart from Him, but changing us into what He has created us to be.
A few days went by and while I was still thrilled with this idea, the "new-ness" had worn off. Until I arrived at church on Sunday and was asked to read Scripture. Bet you can guess what verses I had to read.
Yup. Second Corinthians 5:17-21: "Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away, the new has come. And all this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself, and gave us the ministry of reconciliation; that is, in Christ, God was reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making His appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God. For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that we might be the righteousness of God."
As you may imagine, I barely held it together during the reading. Wow. Is our God great, or what? How He ever puts up with me, I'll never know.
But I'm oh, so grateful.
