On March 3, 2014, I presented a children’s sermon using the butterfly Chrismon as a visual aid. Imitating the format in which I spoke, I will use below the appropriate children’s language that I probably used; however, sometimes big people words seem to sneak into the text. When I had a group of children present, many of the statements would have inspired short discussions. Words of wisdom come from the mouths of babes.
This is a Chrismon butterfly. In the spring around Eastertime we usually think about the beautiful butterfly. In this book, Let’s Take a Look at Moths and Butterflies, written by Phyllis Perry, a Bear Creek teacher, we can see a picture of the beautiful swallowtail butterfly and its life cycle. We are going to talk about this beautiful butterfly’s life cycle and learn something about our faith. Our faith is something that lives in our hearts and minds to tell us about God.
Let’s look at the life cycle of the swallowtail. First it is a tiny little black speck called an egg—then it becomes a caterpillar that eats and grows—then it makes a cocoon where it rests and transforms (which is a big word for changes) into the magnificent and beautiful swallowtail.
We usually rest for a nap or a night. Not with the swallowtail. Our son, Greg, found a swallowtail cocoon and kept it in his room. I told him he would have to throw it away because we had it for almost a year. One morning just before he left for school, we heard a commotion in the cage and watched a swallowtail dry its wings. We know all this is a part of God’s wonderful work called creation—with time it can change the caterpillar into a butterfly.
God asks us to change but in a different way than the butterfly—we stay people as we grow and get older. God asks us to change in that part of our minds and hearts which we can’t see where he lives with us. That is our faith. We don’t change just during our resting time, we change all the time. God wants us to show these changes in our behavior by doing good things and keep trying to do better.
Dear God, during this time may I be actively recreating/changing myself (in my heart and mind) into a new being, more powerful than I have been; healthier than I have been; more tender than I have been; more compassionate and merciful than I have been; more full of love than I have.
From Romans 12:2: “Let God transform 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.”
—Marcia Hult
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