When you see a butterfly, what do you see? Not only are they beautiful and beneficial, the butterfly is a symbol for change, hope and transformation. As a symbol, it has meaning for me and my own journey. Once you see a butterfly this way, perhaps you will relate to the butterfly differently the next time you see one floating gracefully from flower to flower.
As spiritual beings having a human experience, our life purpose is to achieve inner growth and higher consciousness by actively participating in our own metamorphosis and affecting change around us in the process. This involves many changes and transitions throughout a lifetime and change more often than not involves pain.
Pain can come to us in many forms, illness, death of a loved one, a breakup, job loss or bullying, to name a few. Every living soul faces some form of pain in their lives. We’ve heard it said that in each life a little rain must fall. Sometimes it can feel more like a deluge, right? If we get overwhelmed by whatever is causing our pain, depression and anxiety can become almost unbearable. Yet, hiding within these unwelcome moments are our awakening potential and inner beauty, and asking for help to find this is no shame.
Our beauty, like the butterfly’s, is concealed or revealed by how we address pain when it comes, and it always comes. Do we make the self-defeating choice to let pain overcome us, withdraw and remain in the cocoon, or do we draw upon our God-given inner strength, bravely unfold our wings, and victoriously show the world how lovely metamorphosis can be?
We all have the same choice to make in life, submit to fear, play it “safe” and remain a caterpillar or take a risk to experience joy and fly as free as a butterfly. Is there something in your life keeping you from growing your wings and flying free? Perhaps you’re afraid of the “cost” of freedom, which can manifest only through the intentional act of change? Odds are the answer is yes, if you’re being honest.
Identify the obstacle that’s holding you back from reaching your full potential and tenaciously overcome it with resources you already have within you, resources you may not have recognized before they became necessary. There are external mental health and spiritual resources as well. Understand that these resources were put there by our Creator, and it’s up to us to connect with them.
As co-creators it’s the ultimate test of free-will. We aren’t living out a script that’s already written. It’s up to us to work with the master plan and co-author the script, which is a unique expression of self that is ordained by the Divine.
Only by choosing to exercise free-will to confront our fears and to deny earth-bound limitations can we become truly actualized as spiritual beings made in the image of God. The relationship is spiritually symbiotic, not bifurcated by a great chasm between Divine and mortal.
If bodily death teaches us anything, it’s that we are not the body we inhabit, and a second metamorphosis and perhaps many more await. For now, this remains a mystery.
What isn’t a mystery is that while we’re here, we must live out our purpose by embracing the pain of change and making it mean something in our lives and for others. Remember this metaphor the next time you face a doubt or hardship and become the butterfly you were meant to be!
Happy Pride month, butterflies!
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