Story of the Week, July 4 2010, Butterflies Around Us

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July 4, 2010

Happiness is like a butterfly; the more you chase
it, the more it will elude you, but if you turn your attention to other
things, it will come and sit softly on your shoulder

Hello, friends. On these leisurely days, we all see butterflies frequently. But these beautiful little beings have a special significance to some. They are a Christian symbol for “rebirth.” Some of them may also be angels in disguise. (An American Indian once explained to me that in her heritage, butterflies and birds were considered to be messengers from the spirit world.) Here are a few examples:

Joe was dying from cancer. In an attempt to give him a change of scene, his wife pushed his wheelchair out into their back yard. As soon as she went back into the house, her husband called her to come and look! Sitting on his shoulder was a huge blue butterfly. Another hovered around his face, as if conducting a conversation. Thrilled, the woman came outside again but in a few seconds the butterflies flew away. From that point on they visited every day but only if the man was alone in his chair. On the day of his funeral, the butterflies stopped in the yard for a moment or two, fluttered off and were never seen again.

Recently Janet wrote to tell me that ever since her mother died, white butterflies seem to stop at her house. “One always comes to the same place, a bush in front of a window,” she says. “I see them almost every day in the summer, but I look all around and there are never any others nearby.” Janet also received an honor last year, and decided to wear yellow since, as she told her daughter, yellow is the color of victory! “When I stepped outside that day, a huge yellow butterfly flew right to me, swooped over my head and into the distance.”

One of my favorite stories involved a woman who believed that an occasional butterfly would bring her a message. Once she asked God about a choice of schools for her handicapped child. Should she enroll him in a new facility, or let him stay where he was? That evening as she and her family sat in the living room, everyone heard a tapping coming from the outside. Look! A large brown butterfly was hovering outside. Immediately the woman knew the answer to her question.

“It was doubly amazing,” she later explained, “because that butterfly came to us in January, when the outside temperature was below freezing.”

Not every little sign is heavenly inspired. But we should take time to notice what is around us. As Janet says, “I am grateful and give God the glory for showing his love to me and my children this way.”