blessed trinity
Did you know that we need all of God? Some of us may really like one part of the Blessed Trinity more than the others, but the truth is, we need all of Him.
As I recently reflected on this, I saw again how beautifully the Trinity is reflected in the life of...wait for it--YES! the butterfly. It is the perfect picture.
Just as the mother butterfly intentionally lays each individual egg on a particular leaf, God intentionally and uniquely formed and made each one of us and loves us with an incredible love.
We must have this as our firm foundation. God is love. And even more importantly, we must know that He loves and adores each one of His creations! You are not a mistake! You are His beloved!
Can you say out loud: I AM GOD’S BELOVED?
For some of us, that is very difficult to even say, while others might be able to speak it with our mouths, but not really believe it in our hearts.
I pray that this truth will sink deep into our souls, because unless we truly know and believe that God the Father loves us and is always 100% for us and has our very best interest at heart, it will be very hard for us to trust Him with all of our life and walk out our faith in a loving relationship with Him.
This love He has for you is not because you are always so adorable. He loves you because you are His! He created you and You are His beloved child. He loves you because He loves you, warts and all.
That is why this question is so important: “How do you see yourself? As a beloved child of God -- or a slave?”
The second part of the Trinity is God the Son, Jesus Christ, who came to earth and lived and died to set us free from our sins. He came to offer us forgiveness for the things we do that are less than perfect.
And, of course, then He spectacularly did what we celebrated at Easter. He was resurrected from the dead to bring us new life.
He is our amazing example of selfless love, of learning to die to self-- or we could say--of dissolving to self so that we can be resurrected to become an even greater version of ourselves.
This "dissolving" is reflected in the caterpillar that dissolves inside the cocoon and undergoes metamorphosis to become the beautiful butterfly-- the image of what she was always intended to be-- one that resembles her beautiful butterfly Father.
We can say that the caterpillar “cuts loose”, so to speak, from all that is keeping her earthbound (herself!) in order to gain the wings she needs to become completely mature, beautiful and to soar! Christ enables us to do that because He Himself has taught us how.
God the Father, God the Son and now...God the Holy Spirit
He is probably the least talked about and least familiar person of the Blessed Trinity.
Why? Maybe because He is also called the Holy Ghost and people just feel strange talking about ghosts! But the truth is, He is our power source.
We must not be afraid. If you like God the Father, and love Jesus the Son, you are going to be crazy about the Holy Spirit when you truly get to know Him. He brings us everything we desire in the spiritual life--love joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness and self control (Galatians 5:22-23) and the power to walk out the life we so desire to live.
If we truly want to fly higher and further in life than we ever even thought possible, that is done in and by the power source--the Holy Spirit-- not in our own strength.
The power of the Holy Spirit is reflected in the butterfly who spreads her wings and soars on the PNEUMA- (Greek) or Hebrew “Ruach” --both words for wind, spirit or breath of God.
Amazingly, the butterfly was never really designed to fly, only to soar on the wind like a glider. And we know she really and truly does this because an incredible fact that I find so fascinating is this: When the migrating Monarch reaches her end destination (Mexico) she actually weighs more than when she left Canada! Incredible! So we know that she is not flying in her own strength, but only by gliding on the wind.
Do you want to be transformed? Learn the secrets of the butterfly. She can tell you. You need all of God if you really want to soar through this life.
“But now ask the beasts to teach you, the birds of the air to tell you; Or speak to the earth to instruct you, and the fish of the sea to inform you. Which of all these does not know that the hand of God has done this?” Job 12:7-9
Dear Lord,
Who knew? You are so awesome and everywhere I look You speak volumes about Yourself. All of creation speaks of You. Help me to know that You, loving Father, are 100% for me and that You intentionally created me to know and to love You. I pray that I can learn from Jesus how to die to myself so that I can be transformed into all that You would have me to be-- a holy person who looks more like You. And may I learn to do all things in Your strength and by Your Power Holy Spirit, not my own, so that I may go further and higher than I ever could imagine, because You are boundless and You give me wings to soar. Lord, make me like You and if I am fearful of this, please give me the grace to let me get to know You better, because with You there is nothing but beauty, love and peace.
I ask this in the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
