A Tiny Compassion

In one of my efforts to be Mom Extraordinaire, several weeks back I ordered Emily some larvae for a Butterfly Kit she received for Christmas. Yes, Christmas as in 6 months ago…Hey, what can I say? I’m a bit behind schedule in claiming my title as Best Mom Ever. Ah well. Continuing on…this kit came with some larvae in a little cup filled with apparently tasty food to help them grow and flourish. Several days into their vacation at Casa de Los Blevins, they hung themselves up on the top of the cup and entered the chrysalis phase.

Fast forward a few more days until this past Saturday. On a random cursory cleaning of Emily’s room, I happened to peak into the cup and to my delight and absolute horror, there were butterflies in there! (Mom Extraordinaire dropped the ball again! The butterflies weren’t supposed to hatch for a few more days after they had been safely transferred to their butterfly net resort home. Strike two. Ah well.) As Emily and I ran around like crazy nuts trying to find the net and transfer the cup and its contents accordingly, I thought to myself, “Wow. God is amazing. Here I am with my daughter, and we are watching butterflies emerge from tiny cocoons. Real time. Cool.”

We safely transferred two remaining cocoons and one butterfly to the net, but just couldn’t get this one butterfly to budge from the cup! He kept climbing to the top, teetering on the edge, and then turning back around and speedily climbing back down as deep as he could. Frustrated, I finally picked up the cup to look inside to see what in the world was keeping him and what I found stopped my heart.

Unbeknownst to Emily and me, a third butterfly had hatched in the cup, but had been buried with food and was dangerously trapped in silk, his poor wings collapsed. He had all but blended in with his surroundings and most certainly would have been inadvertently thrown away. But here was the other butterfly that wouldn’t leave the cup, down in the bottom standing over him. As I watched breathlessly, he started to move his legs all over his hurt friend, pulling silk away from him and working hard to dig him out. I felt like I could hear his tiny voice saying, “There is one more here! Help me! Save him! Come on, friend! We are leaving the cup! You can do it!” I was awestruck and utterly speechless, but thankfully had enough insight to call Emily over to marvel together at this tiny compassion.

I could draw all kinds of metaphors to comment on some deeper life lessons as they relate to trials and tribulations, friendships, adversity and triumph…but I won’t. I’ll just say this: If God so loved the world that He gave a tiny insect, whose life on this planet will not exceed more than even a few short weeks, a heart of compassion and a spirit of courage, how much more must He love you, His child?