Sasha the caterpillar spent all her time focusing on all her other caterpillar friends, encouraging their growth, discovering their talents, and preparing them for their journey to butterfly-hood. She loved this job because she loved helping others and showing others how beautiful, strong, and important they truly were. When a caterpillar was lonely, Sasha crawled right beside him or her. When a caterpillar was scared to form a cocoon, Sasha was the first person to cheer him/her on in this exciting process. When a caterpillar emerged from the cocoon, Sasha watched in amazement as he/she fluttered away to a new life.
She spent all her time focusing on others that she simply forgot to create her own cocoon. Month after month, new butterflies emerged and flittered through the air, while Sasha remained squirming on the earth. One day after watching one of her friends emerge as a yellow butterfly, she smiled to herself and looked at the water droplet sitting on a daisy. In the droplet, she saw the smile on her green furry face, which then turned into a frown.
“Why am I still a caterpillar?” she asked the cheery daisy. She shook the dew droplet off the flower and wriggled away, convincing herself that her job was to simply help others on their journey and not to worry about her own journey. However, on the way back to her leafy home, she bumped into a ladybug that challenged this thought.
“Excuse me Miss Ladybug. I didn’t see you there,” she said bewildered at why the ladybug was crawling and not flying like all the others.
“Oh, that’s quite alright Miss Caterpillar. I suppose one doesn’t expect to see a flying bug like me crawling on the earth, but I just can’t seem to get enough of this delightful, soft, luscious green grass.”
“You mean you choose to crawl instead of fly?” asked Sasha bewildered at such a thought.
“Sometimes I do! I just love this spongy grass! And it allows me to look up at the blue sky and puffy clouds. You know it’s quite difficult to appreciate the sky’s beauty when you’re in it all the time.”
“I wouldn’t know,” replied Sasha with a shrug and a sigh.
“Well, you will soon enough,” Miss Ladybug exclaimed. “Isn’t it about time for your transformation?”
Sasha grimaced. “I don’t think so. I’m needed too much down here to worry about such things. The caterpillars won’t know what to do without me. They need me to encourage them to be who they are supposed to be.”
Miss Ladybug almost let out a giggle, thinking this was a joke, but upon looking at Sasha’s disgruntled face, realized that Sasha was, in fact, quite serious. “Mmm,” Miss Ladybug said while thinking of what to say. “I see that your job is very important to you.”
“Yes. It is why I was created.” Sasha said with dignity.
“I see,” Miss Ladybug replied. “But I do believe the Creator created you first and foremost to be you. The Creator did not intend for a caterpillar to stay a caterpillar or else every caterpillar would, well, stay a caterpillar,” Miss Ladybug said with a smile and a little chuckle.
“You mean that I can become a butterfly, too?” Sasha asked in disbelief.
“Of course!” Miss Ladybug exclaimed. “Just because you help and encourage others doesn’t mean you can’t flourish yourself. That’s what you were created to do: change and flourish.”
Sasha glanced at her fuzzy body and said, “I guess I thought that was for everyone else but me.”
“Ah,” Miss Ladybug said in realization. “It’s easier to encourage others than it is to focus on your own journey, isn’t it?”
“I’ve never thought about it like that, but I guess it is,” Sasha said.
Miss Ladybug placed her hand on Sasha and looked her in the eyes, “I believe in you. Go be who the Creator created you to be.”
With that encouragement, Sasha found a sturdy branch and attached herself to it. “Thank you, Miss Ladybug.” She then hung her body upside down, and waited and waited and waited and waited. Until finally, her entire body was enclosed in a hard shell.
Then, one day, she erupted from her cocoon and flittered through the air, landing first on a daisy with a small dew droplet. She once again looked at her reflection. Instead of a green fuzzy caterpillar face, she now saw blue and orange speckled wings. She stared at her vibrant colors and softly said,
“While the Creator wanted me to be a caterpillar for a time, His ultimate plan was to see me change and flourish. I am now who the Creator created me to be: a beautiful butterfly who understands her own worth and beauty.”
I took this beautiful butterfly’s picture in Costa Rica last summer.
