During one of our hikes, this lovely butterfly landed right in front of me. It posed for quite some time, enabling me to take this picture.

Like me, maybe you can relate to the butterfly right now, or I should say, the stages to becoming a butterfly.

The Four Stages of Becoming a Butterfly

The four stages are: egg, caterpillar, chrysalis (the cocooning part), and an adult butterfly.

The Egg and Caterpillar Stages

When the egg hatches into the caterpillar stage, all they do is eat! During this COVID time, I’ve certainly been doing my share of eating and LOTS of cooking!

But this eating is to help them grow. Unlike our skin, theirs does not stretch and grow, so they have to molt, or shed their skin several times.

I’ve talked with many people “shedding” possessions and behaviors that no longer serve them. It’s been a time of taking a forced pause to reflect on what truly matters.

If you are a mother, you will especially love how the mother butterfly determines where she lays the eggs. Apparently, the kids are pretty picky about the leaves they eat (I remember those days!).

Each species has a certain leaf that they eat, so the mother lays the eggs on that type of leaf. Since they are too small to travel when they are born, she puts them where they need to be. If that’s not a reflection of God being in the details (as opposed to someone else), I don’t know what is!

The Chrysalis (Cocoon) Stage

Many of us have been cocooning lately, haven’t we? I’ve been cocooning in my home, in my office thinking, reflecting, planning, reading, writing, journaling.

In this stage, growth doesn’t happen on the “outside” anymore. All the growing is on the “inside.” : )

Transformation Stage to a Butterfly

Finally, when the inside growth and change has happened, it comes out of its cocoon transformed into a beautiful butterfly. Blood is pumped into its wings so that they can start flapping and working to fly. Within 3 to 4 hours they are flying.

When we get through this pandemic, how will you emerge? Have you started a transformation already? I’d love for you to share in the comment sections below. I’ve found it to be quite an interesting time.