Which Caterpillar Are You?



Transformation



A small, earthbound, slow moving caterpillar inches its way along the branch of the tree, munching on the leaves as he crawls along.  Life is OK.  He was surviving.  He eventually finds his best friend, another small earthbound, slow moving caterpillar inching his way along the branch of the tree, munching on leaves as he crawls along.  They talk about the weather, about the tenderness of the leaves, and other such things important to caterpillars.  One of the caterpillars finally got up the courage to say what was on his mind, “So, what do you think about this cocoon thing?”  “Oh, I don’t like it at all,” replied the other caterpillar.  “I heard once you go in, that’s it.  As a caterpillar you die.  You are all cramped up in the tiny space and you start to change and it hurts and its dark.  I’m not going to do it.  How about you?” 

“I don’t know,” answered the first caterpillar.  “They say that what happens is really amazing. And that you can fly and be all colorful.  I’d love to know what it feels like to fly.  I don’t like the thought of being in a cocoon, but I think that afterward, life could be way better.  It’ll be hard and scary, I know.  But I hear that it’s worth it.  I think I might try it.”  Trusting the process of transformation, that caterpillar entered into the cocoon, giving up life as he knew it, and after some painful and scary times, emerged from that cocoon as a beautiful butterfly, floating along the air, living a life he had never dreamed possible.  The other caterpillar remained a small earthbound slow moving creature inching his way along the branch of the tree, munching on the leaves as he crawled along.

Transformation.  The process of dying in order to live.  As this Lenten season begins, we are reminded that God is all about transformation.  In Christ, we are a new creation.  The old is gone and a new life has begun.  But being inside the cocoon is scary, dark, painful, and uncertain.  New life begins in the dark, uncertain times of our life.  In the operating room, in the loneliness, in the doubt, in the trials and tribulations of life.  We worship a God who knows all about this.  Who went through the cocoon of betrayal, mockery, beatings, and crucifixion in order to get to Easter Sunday.  The only way to get to the empty tomb is through the cross.  Jesus asks us to die to ourselves, our ambitions, desires, greed, selfishness, in order to fully live an abundant life in him: a life of love and sacrifice and generosity.  Ponder in this Lenten season whether God is asking you to let a part of you die (a bad habit, over indulgence, frivolous spending, thinking of yourself first) in order for you to truly live.  Yes, it's dark and painful inside that cocoon.  But as the first caterpillar found out: Boy, is it worth it!  Which caterpillar will you be this year?

Recalculating!

I can't imagine how I ever lived without my GPS.  I don't go anywhere without it.  It has been a lifesaver in so many instances.  At the same time, I can't tell you how many times I have made a wrong turn trying to follow my GPS only to hear those words, "Recalculating!"  It means I messed up (again!).  But it also means that this little device is going to help me get back on track, no matter how many "when possible make a u-turn" statements it makes.  Eventually it may take a little longer, but I always get where I intend to go.

Two weeks from today is Ash Wednesday.  In essence, God's Positioning System is telling us to recalculate.  Have you ever been confounded by life?  Confused, lost, without direction. Ever feel like you were always making the wrong choices and going down the wrong path?  We have all gone in some wrong directions, made wrong turns, and gotten off course.  God uses Ash Wednesday as a day to "recalculate."  To take stock of where we are, where we want to be headed, and to make some adjustments in life.  But Ash Wednesday isn't just a way of guilting us into how wrong we have been.  It also helps us to "make a u-turn when possible" and with our faithful obedience, can get us back on the right track.

Wherever you are, go to an Ash Wednesday service this year.  Allow God's Positioning System to recalculate your route in life.  Make some u-turns of repentance of the ways you have strayed.  And get back on the right road this Lenten season.

Under Renovation

As I type this, the sound of hammering is pounding in my ears.  The church started renovations this week.  What a mess!!  The existing internal structure of platforms and carpet were torn out.  Hammering, saws, and other pounding noise fills my days.  Dust and dirt and sawdust fill the air.  Fascinating items have been unearthed such as an old acorn that some critter brought in and left in the church walls as well as old newspaper pages shoved under the old platform dated February 25, 1929. 

Being under renovation is inconvenient to say the least.  The office is cold because the door to the sanctuary (which is not heated) is left open all the time.  People come in to ask me questions.  And it's not the ideal working environment with noise and dust everywhere.

 

Being under renovation is hard, messy work.  It takes skill, strength, patience, and persistence.  It takes a vision to see beyond the mess to what could be, what will soon be.  It takes a set of plans so those involved know the next step and the specifications needed to make that vision a reality.

And yet being under renovation means that something better is coming our way.  The sanctuary gets "worse" before it can be improved and more suitable for use.  It's exciting!  While all I see now is a complete mess, that mess indicates that something newer will be here soon, something we as a church have dreamed about for a long time.

And while our sanctuary is under physical renovation, maybe we as human beings are under renovation too.  Maybe God the Great Contractor wants to tear some things down, some attitudes, some behaviors, some thoughts out of our lives and replace them with more loving, accepting, sacrificial attitudes.  Maybe God is trying to renovate our hearts so that we can become more like Christ.  But in order to do that, it will be inconvenient.  It will be hard and messy.  But it means that we will be created into something better, something more like what we are called to be.

So what do you say?  Do you want to be someone who is under God's renovation?