Children and nature are two wonderful sources for reminders of how to hope in the Lord, have faith like a child, experience new growth, and marvel at all God has created. As you can see, I love the caterpillar into butterfly analogy as it has been applied to a person's transformation. Reading the non-fiction book When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions by Sue Monk Kidd a few years back changed my way of thinking about dark spiritual times as being those periods in our lives when we are inside the cocoon or chrysalis.
In the book, Kidd talks about how we go through many chrysalis phases over the course of our lives and how God knows just when we're ready to emerge.
In essence, the times when we feel stuck, fall down in the mud, and could use a spiritual Band-Aid, of sorts, are periods of time when we’re in the chrysalis being healed and transformed from the inside out.
I highly recommend When the Heart Waits: Spiritual Direction for Life’s Sacred Questions as well as the practice of being open to getting "spiritual direction" from kids and nature!
Check out this post by Kate Wicker, wife, mom and journalist which also highlights butterflies and children as two wonderful reminders of God's attention to detail, beauty, and transformation. This beautiful reflection Kate Wicker is part of the extremely insightful series being hosted by Jennifer Fulwiler at Conversion Diary which features guest writers who have each taken one word from the “Our Father” prayer and written a reflection on it. Check out the whole series over at (Our Father, Word by Word).
