Finding My Wings

This blog post and blog in general has been a few months in the making. Well here we go! I'm excited to finally write this post that was bubbling out of me a few months back.
Thursday nights are a very special night for me. I meet with a wonderful group of friends whom I have had the pleasure of knowing now for three years. They have seen it all- the good, the bad, and the ugly and still accept me and love me for who I am. What a blessing, and I would not give this time up with them for anything in the world.
On this particular night that I am writing about, I was given two monarch butterfly cocoons. I was so excited! I knew Andrew and Ariana would just absolutely love watching these little cocoons turn into beautiful monarch butterflies (my favorite in fact). I was not sure how long these butterflies would take to come out and the person that gave them to me said it takes awhile for their wings to dry once they open. So we watched, waited, noted changes like the cocoons getting darker and then eventually completely dark, then seeing the wings through the darkness of the cocoon and the dots in a line near the top becoming gold. The next day we had to leave for the part of day. It was a Saturday and I believe we had our son's baseball game to attend to. I actually said to my husband "Great!"" This butterfly is going to open up and we will miss it."
During that time the butterfly would open the cocoon and dry it's wings and then fly around the house. I had not even thought about the fact that we have a cat and she might find that pretty fun.
I get home and the butterfly is indeed out of the cocoon and I begin my search. Then I see our cat midnight pawing at the grate on the bottom of the fridge. I look, at there it is. I felt so bad.
I put Midnight in our bedroom and remove the grate and rescue the butterfly. It is trying to fly but not well. Not sure what to do and it's near bedtime, I cut a piece of watermelon and put her on it to feed, in a little dish and set it on our deck where I could see through the sliding glass door. Next I start researching butterfly's. This ones wings where tattered but didn't have any missing chunks. The edge on one side looked pretty bad though. I thought we'll see what tomorrow brings. I was not up to do any butterfly wing surgery at 11pm.
The next morning, Ariana and I go out and the butterfly is on my finger. I don't know if it will fly and am feeling pretty bad about this whole thing that could have been avoided if I would have planned better. And I really didn't want my kids after a week or so of watching it change-to watch it die.
"God let this butterfly live" Yes, when you are a mommy you even pray for butterflies :) I was stunned when a minute later it just takes off. I'm thinking it won't go far, and this is so sad. Nope we watch as it gets higher and higher over the top of the trees and can't see it anymore.
It was so exciting! The butterfly is OK!
The thoughts that were following this experience were very spiritual for me. This simple yet beautiful experience taught me a lot about my relationship with God.
I'm that butterfly.
I'm the one who was left alone, who got hurt. I'm the one who was hiding and needing rescue. I'm the one who needed protection, nourishment, and love. And in the end I'm the one who God restored and encouraged and helped me find my wings. And this journey with Him has taken me farther than I could ever see.
God used this experience to teach me about who I am and who He is.
And when i think about it, even today months later, I am in awe of His awesome goodness to love a little butterfly like me.