Several weeks ago I found myself engaged in a serious hunt for a potted, red Geranium. I had decided that my sun deck needed a shock of color at the far end and in my opinion nothing would work there but a red Geranium. So I drove down to our local nursery to see if they had any in stock. And as I meandered through the nursery, enjoying the wide variety of flowers and trees, I noticed the most beautiful butterfly flitting about. It seemed like such a perfect complement to this small nursery that it was almost as if the owner had the butterfly shipped in for effect. It was a delightful scene; a warm Crowley day, a fragrant, quaint little nursery with tons of lovely, blooming flowers and this brightly colored butterfly lazily floating by.

Seeing that pretty butterfly, in addition to the fact that my daughter had been learning about butterflies at school, peaked my interest concerning the development of these amazing little creatures. In my exploration, I discovered some remarkable similarities between my relationship with God and the different stages that the butterfly goes through to reach the end result – freedom in flight!

The four stages of butterfly development are: the egg, the caterpillar, the chrysalis (pupa) and the butterfly. The one that really caught my eye was the chrysalis stage and this is how it was described in an article I read while researching butterflies on the Internet: “When a caterpillar is full grown it attaches itself to a place to rest. It forms a chrysalis (cocoon) and goes into a type of hibernation. On the outside it looks like nothing is going on but changes are occurring inside the pupa that we can’t see. The internal systems are reorganizing and transforming into adult structures.”

I got so excited when I read about the transformation process that goes on inside of that cocoon. It so perfectly illustrates one of the most confounding and distressing stages that we can go through in our Christian journey: The waiting stage.  

God has determined that our lives would consist of many different times and seasons. There is a time to be happy and content with where we are spiritually, and a time to come up higher in the things of God. There is a time to wait patiently for the promises of God and a time to burst forth into the fullness of those promises. And when it comes to the timing and seasons of God, we can easily get off course and error in several ways.

The first way we can error is to resist the waiting stage, doubting that God is in control and accomplishing his will during this season. During the cocoon stage we are tempted to feel as though nothing is happening in our lives. Maybe the Lord has put a dream, desire or prayer in your heart that you have waited on for many years. Well, during this waiting stage huge transformations can be taking place in your heart and mind, causing you to be conformed more and more to the likeness of Christ. And just like the article from the Internet stated, “On the outside it looks like nothing is going on but changes are occurring inside that we can’t see.” We are to take heart when we find ourselves in what seems like an endless, restrictive, waiting stage. Changesare taking place, God is at work in our lives, and we are becoming new creatures in Christ. But we must carefully avoid the temptation to resist this productive stage of “waiting” and set out to make our own way, creating an Ishmael (Genesis 16).

The second way we can error when it comes to the timing of God is to let go of our faith and hope for the future, doubting that God will come through for us. Proverbs13:12 tells us that “Hope deferred makes the heart sick, but a longing fulfilled is a tree of life.” Hebrews 6:12 tells us to “…imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.” And when we look at the lives of Bible greats, such as Abraham, Moses or King David, we see that all of them were required to go through some pretty intense seasons of waiting and refining. But without fail God was faithful to them and without fail, God will be faithful to us.

Be encouraged; if you find that you’re in that cocoon-like waiting stage, your day will come! If you patiently endure and lovingly yield to the Lord, there will be a day when you burst out of that confinement – and fly in freedom!