When the Time is Right

"Just when the caterpillar thought life was over, he became a butterfly."

It seems we all have a story much like the caterpillar mentioned above. When life seems to overtake us, when it seems to overwhelm with unanswered questions that pile up one after the other, we are ready to throw in the towel. But then, when we least expect it, a transition happens, something so beautiful it simply takes our breath away. It happens for the young girl who has never known a romantic love and right when she is ready to believe that love ceases to exist, her prince charming walks in. It happens for the young wife who over and over again has been told that children are not in the cards for her, and then suddenly she is pregnant. It happens for the team who is down by 3 runs, bases loaded, and the person least likely to hit a grand slam does, winning the game for the home team.

We see it all the time, we are surrounded by caterpillars turning into butterflies. So why then, if we see it all the time, if we are surrounded, do we choose to believe that it could never happen to us? Maybe I'm alone in this thought, maybe it is my season of life right now and the desire to have clearer answers that puts this weight on my heart, but maybe it's not. I allow the unanswered questions, and the blurry directions of life to convince me that it would be easier to just throw in the towel. I've made some decisions over the last month or so that are not like me at all, and other night I hit my breaking point. I had a Jacob wrestling with God moment and I can say that it wasn't the first time. As I ceased to back down, as I committed to stay right where I was until God had spoken to me, low and behold I realized the truth behind my current position and confusion.

It appears that my time has come to transition from a caterpillar to a butterfly and I am refusing. Only because this cocoon, this home I've known for so long is so comfortable, never changing, exactly the way I like it. Nobody can make us transition out, no one can push us out of our cocoon (whatever it may be), but the longer we stay the more we miss out on the next chapter, that season that we have longed for when we are able to fly.

As I decide whether to stay or go, I hope that you will take the chance at becoming a beautiful butterfly because if it weren't the right time, it wouldn't be an option.

Original Post: May 9, 2007