Season Change

I am excited for this new season of my life! I have been through many major transitions this past year. I went through a divorce. Moved from Washington state (where I had lived for the past 15 years) back to Indiana where I grew up. I actually ended up living in the home I grew up in and have been taking care of my parents who had some health problems. Talk about a switch! I had been very independent in Washington state and moving back to Indiana was exciting but it also was challenging to not feel like I was taking a major step backwards. Nevertheless, change can often make things possible that you cannot even conceptualize before you take the leap. At this point, eight months after the move back to Indiana, I am beginning to see the beauty. Some of the gifts I have noticed so far: reconnecting with family and friends, a chance to rest after a tremendously tiring year, moments to cook, paint furniture, join a ministry school, an opportunity to go on a mission trip to Honduras, and signing up for a life coaching program. A year ago, I would have never imagined these gifts. If you think about a butterfly in a chrysalis-all is dark and if you look at it from the outside, it is not very pretty and it doesn’t look hopeful.

There is a parable about a man who had empathy for a struggling butterfly and tried to help the butterfly out of its chrysalis by cutting a hole in the cocoon. As the story goes, the butterfly emerged deformed and was not able to fly and eventually died. The struggle is part of what helps the butterfly  to get fluid on its wings and stretch them open so that it can take flight.

Sometimes, we want to short-circuit our own process or the process for other people but what if the struggle is actually important? I’m excited for you to grow and to fly even if what you are experiencing right now is dark. Take heart!

A new season is dawning
Like an orange sun rising
After a blue-black night
Wrapped in fibers and tissues

Breaking forth slowly at first
One leg, body half out
Until inch by inch sliding
Grasping as the twins pop glistening

Tentative moments at first
Wings flutter and then close
Do butterflies need coffee?
Then, swiftly taking flight

Propelled through the air
Like an angelic host
Delighting in each bud
Each branch holds treasure

Beauty like this sweetness
Formed by waiting in the dark
Enclosed and held captive purposefully
As it often is with us

“To everything, there is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.”
Ecclesiastes 3:1