Fly Away, Butterfly!

For our daughter, Lauren....our beautiful butterfly! 
(Written September 2014, but first time to publish.)

Once upon a time there lived a little caterpillar. She lived in a small town with her parents and three younger brothers.

The little caterpillar loved to explore. She traveled to other places, learning and doing all kinds of things. She met all kinds of people. She made lots of friends along the way.

The little caterpillar also enjoyed being at home, with her family. She sang songs. She played games. She learned important things that helped her grow and mature. She learned a lot from a very special Book. Her parents told her that this Book was the greatest book of all! So she read from it every day. She learned some very great things from the Book. Yes, she had a very wonderful, happy life.

The most important thing the little caterpillar learned was that she had a Creator. Her Creator loved her! She also had a Savior. Her Savior loved her! So much so that He gave His life for her! 

The little caterpillar couldn't image a love so wonderful as that love, but from that day on began to share that Good News with others.

Something began to change. The caterpillar stopped growing, stopped shedding her new skin, and she felt all safe and secure and content, but yet felt like there was something more she was supposed to experience. 

Her family was excited about her growing up, but realized that she would soon be making a big step in her life - a step that would change their family forever. They were happy and sad...all at the same time, but knew that the Creator was with her, and that He would guide her steps and direct her paths.

The little caterpillar began to feel different. She changed. She changed more and more each and every day, but these changes were different than the ones she had had before. One day something very wonderful happened! The little caterpillar was no longer a caterpillar! Her Creator had transformed her into a beautiful butterfly!

And so it was that it was time for her to fly away. And she did. She flew away from her safe and secure home. She ventured into new and exciting places, continuing to tell the world what the Creator and Savior had done for her. She shared words from the Book with others daily.

The beautiful butterfly would come back to visit her family whenever she could. Oh, they missed her, but were so excited to hear all about her new life!  They were thankful that the Creator had done such a magnificent thing for their little girl and sister. 

     

The little caterpillar brothers looked forward to seeing those changes in their own lives some day. They were learning more and more about the Creator and Savior, as. well.

The beautiful butterfly learned to spread her wings and fly in ways she would have never believed she could. She had great faith in what she could do, because of the One who made her. He gave her dreams wings! He gave her plans and paths that led to all kinds of new things. And that was just the way it was supposed to be. It was the Creator's wonderful plan that she would learn to fly away. He knew she would all along.

    

"Fly away, beautiful butterfly! Fly away!", she heard her Creator, Savior, and family sing as she flew. And she knew that this was way it was supposed to be. 

GO - It's a BIG Word! Part 2

So, in the last post we looked at the first two reasons "GO" is a big word. Now we'll look at the last two reasons.

3. GO is a big word because it is an open-ended command. Jesus said, "go and tell", but we ask the question, "When do I stop?". We may say, "I'm older now." "I've done my part." "I've taught others about Jesus." "I'm retiring from that job." But, we must realize God needs us for our entire life! You and I are never too old to serve God. You and I are never too old to tell others about Jesus. You and I may be telling others about Jesus from a nursing home bed or from a hospital bed, but we can still share the Good News!

Another question we may ask is, "How do I go?". You and I may make excuses. "I don't know what to say to others." "I don't know how to share the Good News about Jesus." By studying and reading God's Word, we become more and more comfortable with the teachings written there and then become more able to share those teachings with others. However, we do not have to be a Bible scholar to teach others! Just open the Good Book and share straight from the Word.

Another thing we have to realize about the word "go" is that maybe you and I are "going" and "telling", but maybe God wants us to get out of our comfort zone and go a different way. Maybe God can use us in a different way or in a different place. I have felt this way since I began teaching teenage girls. I was used to teaching adult women and had for 5 years. I was used to teaching preschoolers and had for 3 years, plus babies, and school-aged before that. But, I had never taught teens and was a little afraid to, honestly! But, God gave me the courage to teach these girls about Jesus and it's been exciting and gotten me out of my comfort zone. It's helped me, but more importantly they are learning about Jesus!

4. GO is a big word because of what we are asking of others. "Make disciples" is not a command that can be mass-produced in a factory. However, remember that Jesus gave this command in Matthew 28:16-20 and not very long afterwards about 3,000 disciples were 'made' in one day! Acts 2:41 says, "Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day."

God did mass produce, didn't he?!

We must remember that we are talking to real people with real lives. They have real opinions about what they believe. They have real experiences that they have gone through. That is an awesome responsibility and we cannot take that lightly. But, just as the Jesus' original disciples carried out the command and God gave them success, we must also have faith that God will bring about the same success now. We just need to get busy and get to work!

As we work trying to 'make disciples', we are telling them about Jesus and showing them His love and power. We are letting them know what a relationship with Jesus means...what following God's plan means for them - ultimately eternal life in Heaven! But, we also can only teach them about Jesus by showing them that we are living for Him. If we are trying to get someone else to become a Christian, it is implying that we have already given our lives to Him. We are telling them that we are striving to live our lives for Him each and every day. Not just once, not just a few times a year, not even 52 times a year, but every single day of our lives here on Earth.

Then he said to them all: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23


So....GO seems like such a big word because it is. It truly is a big word.

Have a Happy Easter, everyone!

Beautiful Feet

Have you been blessed with beautiful feet? I don't know about you, but personally I don't like the idea of having a pedicure! The thought of someone touching my feet is, well....it's just not something that is appealing to me. But many women and even some men like getting pedicures.

Would it surprise you to learn that pedicures were first mentioned in the Bible? They were! Now they weren't called pedicures back in those days, but the washing of feet was customary and expected much of the time. Genesis 18:4 first mentions washing feet. This is when Abraham was sitting at the entrance of his tent and he looked up and saw three men nearby. He went to meet them (the Bible says that two of them were angels and the other was the Lord) and asked them to stay. Verse 4 says,"Let a little water be brought and then you may all wash your feet and rest under this tree."

Many years later Jesus taught the disciples a lesson as he washed their feet. You can read about this in John 13:6-17. In Bible times foot washing was a sign of hospitality and was also needed because of wearing sandals on dirt roads. But Jesus used this time to teach the disciples a lesson. Jesus was showing, by his example, how to be humble. As Christians and disciples (followers) of Jesus, we too are to be humble and do even the lowliest of tasks in order to serve one another.

In modern times, the majority of people who get pedicures do it so that their feet will look better in sandals or open-toes shoes or to get their feet cared for in ways they are not able to. Either way, the pedicure helps the person have more beautiful feet. The Bible talks about beautiful feet, but in it's context it has nothing to do with what your feet actually look like. In fact, God's pedicure - his charge for beautiful feet will cost you no money!!

How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim peace, who proclaim salvation, who say to Zion, "Your God reigns!" Isaiah 52:7

So, have you been blessed with beautiful feet? No, I don't mean could you be a shoe model or would you parade around bare foot everywhere. What I mean is, has God given you the gift of bringing Good News to those who need to hear it?

How, then can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of who they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written, "How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!" Romans 10:14-15

Think about your feet today :0)....your BEAUTIFUL FEET!