New and Beautiful

"Mom! Mom!" called Wyatt one morning. "Look what happened!" He clutched a glass jar with holes punched in the lid and some twigs and leaves on the inside.Mom and Emily, Wyatt's little sister, went to see. Mom took the jar, and they peered through the glass. "Oh, cool!" said Mom. "Cool?" wailed Emily. "How can you say that? Wriggly's dead! He's all closed up in that dead piece of skin. He's not even moving!""It's okay, honey," said Mom. "He's just beginning the next phase of his life. I know you liked Wriggly as a caterpillar, but this is all part of God's plan for caterpillars. You knew this would happen. We talked about it, remember?""Yeah, Emily," said Wyatt. "When the time is right, caterpillars like Wriggly weave a chrysalis around themselves, and then they change." "Oh, right," said Emily. "I forgot.""The chrysalis is what you see around Wriggly now," said Mom. "In a way, he dies as a caterpillar while he's in the chrysalis. But in a few weeks, you'll get to see him as a new creature. He won't be a caterpillar anymore--he'll be a butterfly." Mom smiled. "It reminds me of when a person becomes a Christian," she added. "We're spiritually dead when we're born into this world. But when we place our faith in Jesus, we become part of God's family, and we're changed. We become alive in Him. Wriggly will be more beautiful when he leaves that chrysalis, and our new life in Christ is much more beautiful and free than the old one was."Wyatt grinned. "And we didn't even have to spin a chrysalis!"Mom laughed. "Nope--God does the work in us. He gives us the Holy Spirit, who transforms us and makes us new.""When Wriggly comes out of the chrysalis, all new and beautiful, do you think I should give him a new name?" asked Wyatt."That might be a good idea," said Mom with a smile. "I don't think I've ever seen a wriggly butterfly!" –Lyndel F. Walker