By Danny Minton

“How does one become a butterfly?” she asked pensively. “You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar. ‘You mean to die?’ asked Yellow, remembering the three who fell out of the sky ‘Yes and No,’ he answered. “What looks like you, will die…but what’s really you, will still live. Life is changed, not taken away. Isn’t that different from those who die without ever becoming butterflies?”
(Excerpt from Hope for the Flowers by Trina Paulus, pg. 23)

It had been a while since I first read Paulus’ book, Hope for the Flowers, when I came across the quote, “How does one become a butterfly?” The part that makes me think the most is when Yellow realizes that to transform from a caterpillar to the freedom of a butterfly, she must die to her old life to live with the beauty and freedom of the butterfly. 

The early part of the book tells how the caterpillars are all seeking something they cannot see. They blindly follow one another and sometimes step on each other to reach the group’s top. They have no idea what’s at the top, but they do all they can to reach it. They have no idea that their life can be so much more than the meaningless goal they are pursuing. 

People today are like the caterpillars in the story. We seek to gain more and more things on the earth, sometimes at the cost of losing friends and alienating those we love. Our hopes and dreams become caught up in getting ahead. Sometimes, we step on someone to get where we want to be. At other times, we ignore the values we have been taught so we can move on with our goals. All too often, these attitudes lead to depression, loneliness, or a lack of caring for those around us. 

Throughout the Gospels, Jesus warns us about letting the things of this world separate us from what God desires for us in our lives. To be like Jesus, we must decide to die. However, dying to the world is not one of finality but a new beginning. When we choose to follow Christ, we become dead to allowing the pull of worldly things to tear us from following Him. We die to something temporary to live for one that is eternal. 

Before the earlier conversation, Yellow had seen a caterpillar building a cocoon and believed he was in trouble. He tells her he is not in trouble but must do this to become a butterfly. She inquires:

 “Tell me, Sir, what is a butterfly?”

“It’s what you are meant to become. It flies with beautiful wings and joins the earth to heaven. It drinks only nectar from the flowers and carries the seeds to love from one flower to another. Without butterflies, the world would soon have few flowers.” (pg.22)

In the same way, as Christians, we are meant to be like Jesus. Our lives are to be transformed, like the metamorphosis of a caterpillar to a butterfly, changing from trying to gain what the world offers to becoming like Jesus. Paul wrote to the Romans, “Therefore I urge you, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living and holy sacrifice, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service of worship. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what the will of God is, that which is good and acceptable and perfect.” Romans 12:1-2 (NASB) He wrote to the Galatian church, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, forbearance, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control. Against such things, there is no law. Those who belong to Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.”  Galatians 5:22-24 (NIV2011)

Do you want to become a butterfly? In other words, do we want to be like Jesus? If so, we must first die so we might live. We must consciously decide to put Christ first and be more devoted to pleasing Him than pleasing the world. It means we may have to give up some things to gain what is more excellent. When we decide to focus on the things that bring us closer to Him, we’ll find a better life.

Why be like Christ? “It’s what we are meant to become.”

“And there’s something else! “Once you are a butterfly, you can really love – the kind of love that makes a new life. It’s better than all the hugging caterpillars can do.”(pg.24)

(Note: I found places on the internet that attribute the beginning quote to A.A. Milne, author of Winnie the Pooh. I could find no reference to any of the Milne writings to validate, and it appears some may have changed the quote to fit Pooh and Piglet. Therefore, I have attributed the quote to the confirmed writing of Trina Paulus in Hope for the Flowers, page 23.)

Danny Minton is a former Elder and minister at Southern Hills Church of Christ