Schmetterling!

When I came home from the women's retreat a couple of weeks ago the kids were all excited to show me the catapiller they had caught in the garden while I was gone. Zachy had even told me about it on the phone, he said they named it 'Spike'. By the time I got home he had climbed up on one of the branches in the container he was in and was just hanging there. At first we thought maybe he was spinning a cocoon, but we didn't see any progress.

The next week was really busy and we sort of forgot about Spike. And when we did think of him we figured he was probably dead. Then we went to Siegen for a week to the conference. We came home and assumed he must be dead, two weeks in a container, well.....

On Sunday morning Zachy was looking at him and said 'he's all black' to which I replied, 'Yeah, I think he's probably dead. Sorry'. His reply was a simple 2 year old 'oh'. I don't know how many times during these 2 weeks Davey said or thought 'we need to throw it out' but we never did.

After church on Sunday I was doing something in the kitchen and looked back toward the living room and saw a butterfly! I thought, 'no it couldn't possibly be Spike'. But when I looked closer, he was on the inside of the window! I called Davey and the kids and everyone was so excited....Spike really did turn into a butterfly! He was black and orange, so Zachy probably saw him just as he was coming out the cocoon that morning. Davey had left a big enough gap in the lid that he was able to crawl out and he headed straight for the window. So we let him out and sent him off so he could find a home.

It was so cool for the kids to expierence the change and watch it (if we had known he wasn't dead we'd have been watching much more closely :) ), and for me it made me think. How often do I give up on people or situations because I think they are dead and there is no hope? How often do I want to 'throw them away' because I can't see any change or progress? I need to remember that God isn't finished with me yet (or anyone else living right now for that matter). He has plans for each one of us and even though we can't always see what the end result will be in our lives or of those around us I know that what he sees is a beautiful butterfly! (Those of you whose kids like the Max Lucado kids' books and DVD's - Hermie and Friends - will recognize this!)

(oh yeah, Schmetterling is German for butterfly : ) It's one of those fun-to-say words! Here are some pictures of Spike as a Schmetterling - sorry I don't have any 'before' pictures, only the empty cocoon and him afterwards. And of course a random one of the kids : )