Metamorphosis

When I was a kid, I went through a phase of signing my name with a butterfly. I just loved butterflies- with their colourful and delicate wings and how they fluttered around. We didn't have a lot of them in Riyadh, so they became even more special. And it's pretty cool how they come to be, you know, starting out yucky and all and eventually becoming pretty and perfect.

photo taken from  http://lifecycle.onenessbecomesus.com

The process that a butterfly goes through to become what it is often becomes an analogy to a transformation process that involves something ugly turning into something beautiful. Our pastor used that analogy just a few hours ago, as an intro to a lesson about being transformed by the Gospel. It was a timely lesson. I needed a refresher, and God always has perfect timing. While listening in class, I remembered signing with a butterfly once upon a time, and thought that perhaps even then, young and naive as I was, I was hoping to be as beautiful as one someday, even if I go through ugliness and yuck.

We discussed how transformation came about by truth, repentance and faith. I thought about what I wrote previously about using the right filter, blurring out the unnecessary stuff and finding the right focus until you get that perfect picture, and I was hit by a realization that I'm pretty sure was in there the whole time and I was just ignoring it. See, the right filter is the Truth. The Good News. Jesus. The unnecessary stuff can be easily blurred out if we just turn to Him and not the other way around. And living by faith, knowing that we are loved by a merciful God and we are saved by grace alone and not by anything else, gives us the right focus. If we use the right tools, we'll always have an awesome picture to show to the rest of the world.

1 John 4:19 (NIV)