The Strength to Keep Flying: Embracing What Remains

There is something almost sacred about a worn butterfly.

Its wings are no longer perfect. The edges are ragged, the colors faded by a journey we can only imagine. Yet it continues to fly, resting upon a thistle whose newest blossoms are just beginning to open.

Perhaps that is the way God sees us, too.

We often look at the scars, the losses, the things that have changed with time, and wonder what remains. But God may be looking at something entirely different – not what has been lost, but what is still becoming.

The thistle is hardly a delicate flower. It is prickly, guarded and rough. Yet from those sharp defenses comes a magnificent purple blossom. Beside it, unopened buds promise that more beauty is still to come. And, yet, we still see it as a weed, lacking value, and needing to be cut down. How wrong we are!

And then there is the tiny bee, faithfully moving about its work.

The entire scene unfolds against a field of blackness. Yet the darkness does not destroy the beauty. Instead, it makes the butterfly and blossoms stand out all the more clearly. (read that line again)

Perhaps that is what faith means sometimes: trusting that God is working even when we cannot see what lies beyond the darkness.

Paul reminds us, “We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair” (2 Corinthians 4:8). And he also reminds us that the God who began a good work in us “will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ” (Philippians 1:6).

The butterfly does not need perfect wings to keep flying. The thistle does not need a gentle world to keep blooming.

And neither do we need a perfect life to remain in God’s hands.

The wings may be worn. The path may be dark. But the blossoms are still opening. God is not finished (with you) yet.

God’s grace does not always restore what was lost. Sometimes His grace gives us enough strength to keep flying with what remains.