Butterfly Treehouse

When it came time to make lists for Christmas presents this past year, my daughter, Avery, wasted no time. She knew exactly what she wanted. Her list was very specific. This is not the norm for my third child. She takes 15 minutes to decide which candy she would like from the check-out line at the grocery store (much to the dismay of those waiting in line behind us), so having her return her list to me so fast made me know she had already been doing some serious thinking. At the top of her list I read "Butterfly Treehouse." What? I had never heard of it. I was impressed that she could write Butterfly Treehouse.

Allow me to digress... this is also my child that would practice writing random words when she was learning to first write, using anything from copying books to magazines. One day she brought me a piece of paper saying "Bud Light." Needless to say, I was a little taken off guard...shocked, nonetheless. Where in the world would she learn to write something like that? I walked in the kitchen to find a grocery store flier open to, you guessed it, an advertisement for Bud Light! From that point on, I was a little more observant of how Avery was practicing her writing.

Ok, back to the Treehouse...It was really all I heard about for weeks, but Santa didn't know where to get one, and happened to mention the dilemma to Aunt Missy, who promptly replied, "Let me take care of that for you." Santa, not thinking clearly - not thinking about the brownie points that would be won for her favor from Avery - replied, "OK, great! That would be special for you to give her."

So, for the last few weeks, we've been growing butterflies at our house. We had to order caterpillars to come in the mail. Really! I ordered caterpillars in the mail...paid $3 for 'em even! They arrived in a cup that looked suspiciously like a "sample" cup at the Dr.'s office, if you catch my drift, so fittingly enough, we put them in the bathroom because they have to grow in the dark, cool room. Anyone that came to our house was pretty much grossed out - Aunt Missy included. She had issues going in there with caterpillars looking at her. Whatever!
It became a daily ritual for Avery to come home and check on them, watching the different stages of growth.
One day she proudly proclaimed, "Mom, Dad, they have grown their crystals!" That'd be chrysalis for all you science fans! They were really very neat to watch.

Well, a couple of days ago, guess what happened? We had transferred the caterpillars in their chrysalis to the actual Butterfly Treehouse, and low and behold, we had real butterflies people! It was amazing! To be brutally honest, though, it was also...well, also...ummm....GROSS! Things are shed, gross colors come off. It was really disgusting. Something so beautiful and ladylike could be so yucky to watch become that way. Thus, the point of this story. 2 Corinthians 5:17 says, "Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come." It is just like us. We go through a lot of "yuck" in becoming like Christ. He takes us, gross and all, and makes something lovely and wonderful out of us. I am rejoicing in that today. I have been purging some old stuff out of my house, reorganizing, getting rid of a lot of stuff that is holding me back from living in freedom. It is amazing how crowded our lives get, but thankfully there's hope to see a new day, a new start.


Don't know what it will take for you today. Maybe you need a good dose of cleaning out...please, don't let your mind wander here. Get rid of some stuff that is hindering you. Make a decision today to do whatever it takes to walk the path God has for you.