What a joy to be outside during these gorgeous fall days full of sunshine and butterflies. Yes, you heard me, butterflies. While many creatures are stockpiling food, looking for a potential hibernation hole, or flying south for the winter, Monarch butterflies in my part of the country hang around until late October before heading to Mexico. Why? Because these fall beauties are different than the spring and summer ones. Instead of a two to six-week life span, they live long enough to travel farther south, enjoy the sun for a few months, then return north to lay eggs and begin the cycle over again. Only Monarchs emerging in September and October have this ability, and they are the fourth generation of those returning north to lay eggs each year. Eggs hatch into larvae that become caterpillars, which transform into a chrysalis (aka pupa), and eventually a butterfly emerges. A lifestyle change if there ever was one . . . or two . . . or three . . . and finally four.
We can experience the same beautiful transformation. Romans 12:2 says, “Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you.”
On this Southern-fried Friday, what do you see transforming around you? Are the leaves changing color? Do you live far enough north to have seen your first snowflake?
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