Let God Transform You

Metamorphosis: (Greek: metamorphoó) a complete change of character, 
appearance, substance, or form. To transform.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform (metamorphoó) you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:2

As I wrangled with my own bad attitude toward personal transformation this week, a butterfly landed in my path. The little creature, painted with colors of sunset against powder black, seemed to have a message for me. Soundlessly she delivered her elegant exhortation. 

Let God transform you.

She told me a silent story of metamorphosis, a season of dissolving darkness that made her the beauty she now was, flitting among the cobbled stones of an ancient castle walk. 

She was free here on the mountaintop. I did not feel so free.

I resist transformation. You and I were created in the image of God, with thoughts, words, and deeds meant to reflect Him to the world. But with my thoughts I wrestle. With my words I complain. With my deeds I resist the dissolving of my former self. I crave comfort and sameness. 

Change is hard.

We are meant for transformation. Metamorphosis is how we become. #faith #perseverance #trust Click To Tweet

We have been designed with purpose we can barely grasp here on our stubby legs, crawling on the ground of earth like caterpillars with tiny eyes.

The butterfly was patient with me as I processed her story.

To become a butterfly, darkness is necessary. Silence is essential. Patience is crucial.

Inside the hard shell of the chrysalis, a butterfly may dangle from some hidden place or even be buried underground. The species, or predetermined pattern and outcome, determines where and how long the darkness lasts. This stage can endure a few weeks, even two years.

During this time it may appear nothing is happening. Children who come upon pupas in nature sometimes think they are dead. Nothing could be further from fact. The curious vessels, protective in nature yet lined with silk, contain a miracle.

Wow. Have you ever been through a season where your friends wondered if you would make it? When life was so crushing, so difficult, it appeared to the onlooking world nothing good was happening?

Metamorphosis is miraculous. Yet it can look like inertia, lifelessness, desertion, death.

For the caterpillar, this stage must seem catastrophic. Inside the chrysalis, the body of the caterpillar is dissolving. The form, the reality it once knew, is no more. Yet cells from its caterpillar form are regenerating and creating something completely new. They are becoming arms, legs, and the brilliant colors of butterfly wings. All it consumed, all it was in the larva stage is now providing the energy for this metamorphosis.

Creation teaches us about God’s character. God grows life from death. He nourishes next year’s harvest from this year’s decay. The decomposition of the caterpillar fuels the composition of the butterfly.

I leaned in closer. The butterfly’s story was beginning to sound uncomfortably familiar.

Hmmm. Maybe letting God transform me isn’t such a bad idea.

I wondered to myself, What if my little messenger had the ability to complain? Would she have raged at her Maker as her old form vanished? Would she have screamed at the walls that enclosed her, been ungrateful for the soft silk that swaddled her in the hidden place of metamorphosis?

Relief flooded me that butterflies can’t complain. 

I suddenly felt very small in the presence of this wee emissary.

When it is finally time to break free from the chrysalis, the first thing the butterfly does is rest awhile. After her wings dry and strengthen, she flies!

Message delivered, off my small friend danced, above the castle walls and over fields of wild orchids until she disappeared.

 

Would That I Were a Silent Butterfly

by Audrey Frank

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Deep in the transforming darkness

Held as He changes me.

 

Lord, I trust You.

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Quiet in the metamorphosis

Trusting as my form dissolves.

 

Lord, I believe You have good plans for me.

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Still in the secret place

Content to be unseen.

 

Lord, I accept Your will for me.

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Yielded to Your process

Believing in my purpose.

 

Lord, I know You give me hope and a future.

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Unable to complain

Untroubled by the in-between.

 

Lord, I will wait for You.

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Unafraid of obscurity

Anticipating certainty.

 

Lord, You are my Certainty.

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Inside walls of hope

Patiently waiting.

 

Lord, I will let You have Your way in me.

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Growing wings

In secret.

 

Lord, transform me.

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Breaking free

Into light.

 

Lord, I can hear the cracking of the walls that have held me!

 

Would that I were a silent butterfly

Emerging,

Resting

Strengthening

 

Flying!