Monarch Butterfly Release

Monarch Butterfly - it's time to flutter.

Monarch Butterfly – it’s time to flutter.

This past weekend I attended a wonderful event – A Time to Flutter. At the end of our time together on Saturday, we held a Monarch butterfly release. If you never experienced a butterfly release, put it on your bucket list. Butterflies don’t all behave the same way. Some move very slowly, waiting and waiting to warm up and fly. Others move the minute you crack open their container. Most don’t fly until you fully open up and release them.

I stood still, peeking in the envelope at my little creature. He refused to sit still. From the second I cracked open the paper holding him captive, he grew very active. He climbed to the top—his beautiful Monarch colors a stark contrast to the pink envelope. I tried to close it back as much as possible so he didn’t escape before his time. But he didn’t take no for an answer. He wasn’t waiting one more second. This little beauty spent time in the cocoon, then he ended up in yet another tight place, holding him captive and he wasn’t standing it any longer. He escaped—and who was I to tell him he couldn’t go.

We’re so much like butterflies. We need the cocoon to change us and prepare us for flight. Sometimes we emerge and still get in situations where we’re trapped, prevented from taking off on our maiden flight. Then, the door opens. Some stay put, slow to move, wanting to sleep just a little longer. Others are ready to go, but wait patiently. And then there is the one who can’t wait one more minute.

The wise wait for God’s timing and never take flight before He says go. But there are times when we’ve been holding back long enough. When the container opens, we have to fly. Nothing – I mean nothing – holds us back and the only way we stop is if someone squashes us completely.

I watched my little guy fight hard. He clawed his way out of that little pink envelope. And then he spread his wings and flew.

I was disappointed because he flew away much too soon, while we were yet praying. But a still, small voice spoke to me. “What are you waiting for? I set you apart. I called you. I anointed you. It’s time to fly.” I’ve been holding back when God already told me to fly. The time is now, and like the butterfly, nothing can hold me back except my own reluctance to spread my wings and take flight into my destiny.

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