And now for something completely different! A little less of a challenge

Nature is amazing isn’t it!? Let’s look at three fascinating creatures. 

Ants

Did you know that Ants can carry 10-50 times their body weight? And when you see an ant hill above ground, beneath your feet is 185 square metres of a mini city where life happens for ants.

After about a year, they move on and can create their new home in around 3 days! They are hard workers.

We read a few things about ants in the Bible.

Proverbs 30:25 says,

²⁵ the ants are a people not strong,
    yet they provide their food in the summer;

Isn’t it strange how it refers to them as ‘people’?

Proverbs 6: 6-11 speaks to us about how hard working the ant is and if we don’t work hard, life won’t be good or easy. (my paraphrase!)

Bees

I first read this about a year ago and I was totally blown away.

Queen bees and worker bees are genetically identical. Queen bees lay up to two thousand eggs a day, while worker bees are functionally sterile. Queens live up to three years; workers may live only three weeks. The difference between the two is diet. When the hive’s queen is dying, a larva is picked by nurse bees to be fed a secreted substance called royal jelly. When the larva eats this jelly, the enzyme that had been silencing the expression of royal genes is turned off and a new queen is born. The queen has the exact same genes as any of the workers, but because of what she ate, different genes are expressed, and her life and life span are dramatically altered as a result. 

Wow! Can we apply that to us? Of course. How we live and what we eat is going to affect our souls and our bodies. Do some research on food and serious illness, I think you may be surprised – I know I was.

Finally and perhaps the most fascinating,

Butterflies

I think you’ll probably know that a caterpillar is completely different from the butterfly it becomes, it metamorphosises into a brand-new creature. 

Sound familiar? (2 Corinthians 5:17)

We’ve been talking about caterpillars, cocoons and butterflies a lot lately and one of things I said to John was, you can’t be a butterfly unless to go into the cocoon. 

Watch this video for a look at what takes place.

Caterpillar, cocoon, butterfly

Some of the words that I was thinking when watching that were, it’s messy, looks uncomfortable. Also, how good would it be if all we had to do was eat! 

If you’re a follower of Jesus, an obvious picture of this caterpillar to butterfly experience is the one of salvation, hands down, the best one, but I think throughout our lives we can experience a few chrysalis moments if we sign on for a life of adventure with Jesus. 

What we do and how we approach Chrysalis or cocoon moments is up to us. I imagine the caterpillar just hangs there! For us, it might be right to just hang! To be still, to listen to God. When was the last time you sat in silence? In our noisy world of distractions, it’s not easy to do, but it’s a good discipline to get into. 

Just recently I learnt that if you were to open a cocoon, you wouldn’t have a clue what was happening. You’d basically see caterpillar soup.  The phrase used to describe what’s happening was identity suicide. (Paul Scanlon)

Transition is hard, and our default can be to go back to being a caterpillar because that’s what’s known.  But if you want to become a butterfly you will have to commit identity suicide. You will have to become a different person. I’ve had a few cocoon moments in my life, just recently been through one. I know I’m not the same person I was even a few months ago. 

We must do what we’re told in Ephesians 4:22-24

“You were taught, with regard to your former way of life, to put off your old self, which is being corrupted by its deceitful desires; to be made new in the attitude of your minds; and to put on the new self, created to be like God in true righteousness and holiness” 

Put off your old self. Put on the new self. We are responsible for this. 

Get rid of stuff that so easily entangles. What are your defaults? Are they healthy ones? 

Someone brought a great challenge to us in one of our prayer meetings, ‘Would you live yesterday the same again, or would do some things differently or not at all?’ Great question!

I’d like to incorporate some of the life lessons of the ant, the bee, and the butterfly. 

I’m up for working hard, I’m up for looking after my body & soul, and I’m up for the stretching/cocoon times.

Are you?

Until next time

D xx