Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, the new creation has come: The old has gone, the new is here!
2 Corinthians 5:17
Have you ever wondered what happens inside the cocoon? You may remember from elementary school days the life cycle of a butterfly. There are basically four stages: egg, larvae (caterpillar), cocoon (also known as chrysalis), and butterfly. The timeline from egg to adult is about 22-37 days, but for about two weeks of that time, it is in the stage of a cocoon where it is transforming from a caterpillar to a butterfly. I never gave much thought as to what happens inside the cocoon; as a kid, I think I just assumed it was sleeping. But in actuality, there’s a lot of activity going on underneath the surface: wings are being formed, there’s a lot of movement, and the body is changing down to a cellular level. In fact, the same juices that caterpillar used to digest its food is used to change its own body! If you think about it, it must be pretty messy and even painful in there.
This is often what spiritual transformation looks like in our own lives; as much as we would like, we can’t just sleep our way through transformation. Perhaps on the surface, it may not look like much is happening. But beneath the thin veneer of our skin and smiles, it can feel like quite a mess: emotional excavations, self-doubt, anxiety, and visceral pain. Yet, on the other side of the cocoon is transformation, beauty, and freedom.
