“Everything opens to something better: the acorn to the oak; the rose bud to the rose; the chrysalis to the butterfly.“
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself (Philippians 3:20,21).
Creation abounds in picturesque similes and metaphors hidden in nature for our instruction and encouragement—if we have eyes to see them. “Tut, tut, child,” said the Duchess. “Everything’s got a moral if only you can find it” (Alice in Wonderland).
The problem, however, is that having “found” the moral of a parable it’s almost impossible to describe the powerful sensations, impressions and feelings that accompany our discoveries. They are “better felt than telt."
Consider, for example, the butterfly:
Butterflies begin as caterpillars, though some may insist that they begin as butterflies, evoking the ancient enigma of the chicken and the egg. Generally, however, we think first of the caterpillar, those homely, creeping, earth-bound worms with which horrid little boys tease and torment little girls. How can these paragons of unsightliness—caterpillars that is; not little boys—become objects of winged, luminous splendor?
Well, butterflies happen like this: caterpillars, having lived out their lifespans and grown old and weary, weave and spin themselves into their little shrouds to wait in the hope of the redemption of their bodies. Then, transformed, caterpillars emerge as butterflies in breathtaking beauty. No one understands the process. It's all very mysterious!
So we too must enter into death, for our lowly, time-worn bodies cannot in any other way experience that redemption of the body for which our redeemed souls sigh. (George MacDonald suggests that “death exists for the sake of the resurrection.) Through death and only then, can a new being emerge. It rises from the ruins of the old, bearing not one of the marks and stains of the former life, but bearing "the image of the heavenly Man!" (1 Corinthians 15:49)—“ourselves" yet made far better, transformed and conformed to the likeness of God's own Son.
John put it simply: "We shall be like Him!" (1 John 3:2).
Then shall this groveling worm
find his wings, and soar as fast and free;
As his transfigured Lord with lightning form
and snowy vest—such grace He made for thee.
DHR
