Lessons from Butterfllies...part 1

Recently, we went with some friends to see the Flight of Butterflies documentary at a local Imax. That was quite a treat. (I felt blog post options shooting out of my brain the whole entire time! SO many analogies to make between butterflies and life...)

The movie was about a man and his wife who devoted their lives to tracking and tagging monarch butterflies. They had a vision and poured their hearts into the project, never giving up their quest to know more even as older age set in. They traveled to far away places in their quest to know where the butterflies found warmth to sustain life in winter. And when they got older and could not move about as freely in research as they once could, they sent out fresh and young recruits who finally found the butterflies overwintering in Mexico.

I thought of how it is in Kingdom work. We pour our lives into His service, reaching out to the souls He brings us, hoping they choose Jesus and His life. We center our lives around Him, making life about Him consistently, despite obstacles, or discouragement or opposition from others who do not share the vision we have.

And one day, God calls us to send out the young people...the fresh-faced, energetic young people whom we train and teach, and encourage them to KNOW Him and make Him known. They catch the vision we had, and pour their lives into loving God and loving others, in the places He calls them to.

I thought of that the other evening as we gathered for a commissioning service for Marie, who has lived in our home for just over a year while she sought the Lord on His will for her life, and walked through some hard things to find a deeper relationship with Him.

We have enjoyed having her in our home, loving her and helping her to find God in the 'madness' of life, praying for and with her and teaching her to observe all that Jesus commanded. It was the way He called us to fulfill the Great Commission beyond our own children, and we are glad we had the opportunity to do this.

And then God called her to go out into His service somewhere else. As she prepares to leave us to serve in another part of God's Vineyard, we gathered to love on her, and to commission her with our blessing to go serve Him in the place He has called her. As her father laid hands on her and various ones prayed for her, I was so deeply blessed to know that THIS is what the church is called to do. We pour our lives into 'loving and protecting the butterflies', and we send out fresh recruits to do work in places where we cannot go.

 We are happy to have had her

family share this weekend 

with us as well.

They have been a big part

of her life, too,

showing Jesus to her

for many more years

than we have known her.

I am so incredibly awed at how

God works in life, causing His children to do the work He needs for them to do,

equipping them to do that work, and putting us in exactly the right places He needs

us to be for the season we are in.

For Marie, coming to New York was a season of respite,

as she looked for answers for the hand she was dealt for a number of years.

God put her in a place that was quiet so that He could write

His thoughts on her heart.

I'm glad that God knows best.

Just like the butterfly trackers,

who poured out their lives for

their cause,

will you join me in pouring out

your life for the cause of

sharing Jesus to a broken world?

He is calling us to!

Let's say YES...

So that more can know Him

before the time for choosing is done.