Caterpillars and Butterflies

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I’m doing the butterfly thing, y’all. It’s my Eastertide theme. 

It started when I was trying to think of ways to make Easter more meaningful for myself, the way Christmas is . . . and I thought, decorations! I decorate the whole frickin’ house for a month and a half at Christmas (or at least I used to). What decorations can I put up for the seven weeks of Eastertide?

No eggs, please. And no rabbits. For the love.

I hit Google to find symbols for new life. Butterflies popped up on the list . . . and that one grabbed me. So, I got on Amazon and found some foil butterflies that I’ve put up all around my house – everywhere that my eyes happen to fall in the course of the day. (See the picture of one here on my microwave.) That’s been fun. But I decided to do more.

When I was homeschooling my girls, we did the butterfly growing kit, where you get some caterpillars, watch them form cocoons, and then see them “hatch” into butterflies in a net-like cage. It was a great experience. So, I’m doing it again.

I got the caterpillars about a week and a half ago. They’re awfully cute. I’ve spent time here and there just observing them in their little container (also pictured here). One of the things that has fascinated me is that they move back-end first; their rear legs scoot forward and then the rest of the body adjusts to the new position, like a wave. There has to be a metaphor in there somewhere . . . still percolating on that.

They grew quickly into big, fat, fuzzy caterpillars, and much more mobile than they were in the beginning. The food at the bottom of their container is pretty picked over now and covered with tiny dark pellets that I assume are some kind of excrement (I suppose caterpillars poop, yes?).

And in the last couple days, they have made their way to the top of the container and are now hanging in chrysalises.

I mean . . . WOW. 

Those of you who read my stuff regularly know that my brain automatically looks for the analogy – and it’s making that effort now with my fuzzy friends. The thing is, though, that this isn’t going to make a perfect analogy (like, I can't say we = caterpillars, the cocoon = death, etc.), and I’m trying not to force it into one. It’s just a marvelous thing to watch these creatures, mulling around, eating and pooping and crawling in their weird butt-led fashion, just surviving for another day . . . and I assume they have no idea whatsoever of the beautiful new life that’s coming for them.

And I wonder about them wrapped up in these chrysalises. I don’t know how that happens (I probably should do some research). Do they intentionally create this thing around themselves? Does it just enfold them by surprise? They each purposefully made their way to the top of the container and started hanging. What instinct drew them there? Are they aware of anything while they’re inside? Does it hurt to go through that transformation?

Again, it’s not a perfect analogy, humans and butterflies. But spending this time with my new fuzzy friends (who will not be fuzzy for much longer) has been a great reminder of who God is and what he does. He takes small fuzzy things that are easy to miss in everyday life (or even step on) and transforms them into beautiful flying beings that pollinate plants to help create even more beauty in the world. Just for beauty’s sake. And his glory’s sake.

Watch this space for butterfly pics to come, Lord willing.

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