Butterflies

by Rachel Alley, Southeastern Synod Director for Youth Ministries

Butterflies have always fascinated me. Many of you know I keep on talking about getting a tattoo of a butterfly on my big toe. (which is the ugliest of all my toes) After the Alassippi Youth Gathering this summer, the youth and adults from Ascension Lutheran in Mississippi asked me to go get henna tattoos with them in Gulf Shores. Or course I said yes! And at first I was going to just watch but guess what? I got a butterfly henna tattoo right on my big toe! I really liked it for the 3 weeks I had it until it wore off.


You see, I have always connected with the story of the butterfly, starting out as this little tiny egg, eating its way to a larvae and then caterpillar (which are usually ugly like my toe), hiding itself in a cocoon over the winter and then struggling really hard to get out from a tiny little opening, but when the butterfly finishes its struggles, it enters the world as a butterfly ready to pollinate flowers and flutter around. I just feel happy watching them and I especially love the story of transformation. As soon as we moved into our home in South Georgia I planted lantanas and milkweed because I knew they attracted butterflies.


Two weeks ago, I sat with a father at a baseball game who told me the story of another young baseball player he knew. This young man was a freshman in college who was living his dream of playing baseball in college, he had made good grades in high school, had a beautiful girlfriend. Life was good. Yet, no one knew he was struggling with his grades at college this fall, his girlfriend had broken up with him, he and his roommate didn’t get along, and he was getting bullied by some of his teammates. He took his life not being able to handle it anymore.


Every day the news is full of stories of cyberbullying on facebook or other social websites because one person doesn’t like another. Our students are faced each year with friends or even themselves with committing suicide, not fitting in, questions of identity, eating disorders, cutting, drugs, pregnancy, drinking, and fast driving to get a thrill and take away the pain, stress of picking a college, knowing what they want to do with the rest of their life, and most recently worries over money and will there even be a job for them after they finish college.


As people who believe in Jesus, who loved us enough to die for us and saved us from our sins and has said, I am with you always even until the end and has told us to Love our Neighbor. We have got to step up and start telling the story of the transformation of the butterfly and telling people we love them and Jesus loves them. That the struggles like in the cocoon make us stronger. That Jesus is with us during all those difficult times and he says I love you no matter who you are and what you are going through. That there is a church community near you who cares about you and will walk with you during the difficult days. When do we step up, say I love you because Jesus loved me, and become Butterfly People? I found this children’s story/sermon on a website I visit often and wanted to share it with you. I don’t know who wrote it. Maybe you’ve seen it on the web too. I wish I could honor the author because it is a wonderful story.



Butterfly People



One day I was picking up a few things at the supermarket. The paper butterfly fluttered past the shelves of potato chips and cookies and came to rest on my arm. (put butterfly on arm). It is not often that I am approached in the supermarket by a crudely shaped paper butterfly. I looked down and discovered that the paper butterfly was piloted by a small child. There beside my shopping cart stood a three-year-old girl, pinching her homemade butterfly and looking up into my quizzical eyes. I grinned and said “Hi!” This little pixie made one more swooping motion with her butterfly, and again looked up at me, and chirped, “I love you.” That made my day. I crouched down and said, “I love you, too.” She beamed with bubbly joy, turned and scampered down the aisle, her paper butterfly soaring beside her. My day had been brightened by one of the Butterfly People.



We’ve all probably seen little kids do such things. They seem so free. To them it’s no big deal to skip up to a stranger and blurt, “I love you.” Somehow, it seems so natural to them. My response to the little girl was probably pretty common for her. She’s no doubt accustomed to running up to her mom and dad and brother and sister and grandparents and saying, “I love you.” And they, in return, are accustomed to hugging the little girl and saying, I love you, too.” She feels free to give her love. It’s part of her young life.



But I worry about her. I’m afraid she’ll follow all the rest of us. There comes that time in our lives when our “I love you” gift isn’t exactly warmly received. At age four or five or six we may approach a little friend and utter our favorite line, “I love you.” And on that fateful day the little friend says something like, “oh shut up. Your breath smells like your daddy’s shoes.” At that moment we learn a most unfortunate lesson. We learn that love is risky business. After several more painful reactions to our “I love you” approaches, we learn to carefully weight the risks involved before offering our love so freely. Consequently, those around us hear “I love you” less and less. Our beautiful paper butterflies have become crumpled. (crumple one wing).” They’re no longer free to make graceful, soaring flights through supermarkets and other places. Now we are even afraid to risk flying our butterflies around those very people who used to hug us and respond with “I love you, too.” The crumpled butterfly syndrome holds us back.



But what do our moms and dads and brothers and sisters think of us? Do they ever sit and wonder whatever happened to the butterfly spirit within us? I’m sure they remember those beckoning eyes and that squeaky “I love you.” Do they suspect that we have stopped loving them? How long has it been since our moms and dads and brothers and sisters have heard us say to them, “I love you”? It’s that crumpled butterfly that holds us back. Too many ties we’ve reached out to another person, only to be ignored, or misunderstood, or laughed at. It hurts too much when others don’t respond warmly to our love. To soar with the butterfly is risky.



To be one of the Butterfly People, we must give 100% of our love. We must take the risk that our love might be rejected. To that lonely new kid in the group, the butterfly within us asks us to reach out and risk our love. To that hard-to-love person at school, the butterfly asks us to risk our love. To that ex-friend who we’ve said we “hate”, to the old lady at the rest home, to that bratty little brother, to that tired dad or mom, the butterfly asks us to risk our love-100%. It’s a natural reaction to guard our feelings, to be cautious about the risks in giving 100%. But the butterfly asks us to look beyond the risk. God calls us to be His Butterfly People. Jesus said, “if you love me feed my sheep.”



It’s not enough to simple call ourselves Christians. We are challenged to “live dangerously”- to take the risks of the Butterfly People. Jesus said, “If you love only the people who love you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners love those who love them! And if you do good only to those who do good to you, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners do that! And if you lend only to those from whom you hope to get it back, why should you receive a blessing? Even sinners lend to sinners, to get back the same amount! No! Love your enemies and do good to them, lend and expect nothing back, and your reward will be great” (Luke 6:32-35). Jesus is our glittering example of the Butterfly People. He reached out and risked with 100% of His love. And sure enough, there were people around to curse, to laugh at Him, to ridicule Him, to hurt Him, to shout for His death, to nail him to a cross. (crumple both wings). But, Jesus knew that His actions and His love did not depend on how His love and actions were received. Jesus remained vulnerable. He was the original Butterfly Person. But that’s not the end of the story. (begin smoothing out the butterfly). He won in the end-just like all true butterflies. At Easter’s dawn, He arose from His temporary cocoon and spread His wings in glorious color. The world would never be the same. And he invites us to join him in His great metamorphosis. He dares us to be His Butterfly People. You are the Butterfly People! And I must tell you...I...Love...You!!