Blessed are the butterflies :)
They catch our attention on sunny mornings when we are preoccupied with problems and often forget to smile. It's hard to look at a butterfly, fluttering about a bush and not relax for a minute and smile. Even if you have no problems, the butterflies bring a smile to the youngest face and the oldest soul.
Oddly though, they don't start out so beautiful. They sit, wrapped up in their little cocoons seemingly oblivious to the world around them. Do we know what they are thinking or if they are dreaming of where they will go and what they will do once they break through from their quiet cocoons? Do caterpillar's dream of dayglow lillies or pink frangipangi blossoms in their sleep?
We expect everything to be instant in this world of ours. Push the button and the television comes to live, move the mouse and the computer screen turns on. If we have to wait too long on our cell phones for something to download we run out and buy the faster version. And, in our rush for immediacy we sometimes don't open our eyes and see the slow evolution of the miracles in nature that are revealed daily.
We see small rosebuds appear and after one long day of rain and warmer temps the rose garden suddenly, magically comes to life. Each living thing has it's own moment in the sun, be it a rose or a butterfly.
In Miami we have beautiful Yellow Trumpet Trees that have many, bright, lemon colored butterflies fluttering about their beautiful blossoms this time of year every summer. They are stunning reminders of the passage of time, as every living creature has it's own beautiful hour in the sun. July is the time for the yellow butterflies on the yellow trumpet trees.
Malka was talking today while we were learning Tanya at how hard and arduous a process it is for a butterfly to break free from it's cocoon and take it's first trip around the neighborhood. It's a multi-step process from caterpillar to cocoon to fluttering around in the sunshine. First they crawl about like little bugs, then they hide away into their own personal little golus and hang from trees branches, often going unseen, camouflaged and waiting to emerge one day into a beautiful butterfly. They have been so cramped up, curled up into a small ball, they emerge wet and wrinkled like a little baby from the womb, slowly they unfurl their wings and take their first flight out into the sunlight. It's awesome, it happens slowly and at the right time when it is meant to happen.
People are like those small, beautiful creatures. Each person seems to have their own timing when they wake up and look around them and make decisions on how they consciously want to live their lives. Some people wallow in depression and struggle desperately to break free from it's evil grasp and others just sort of wake up one day and turn over a new leaf, determined that today will be different. Some are filled with anger and jealousy and long to let go of their anger and live simpler, gentler lives. Some people get stuck in the process and don't move forward and slowly try crawling out of their own exile, golus filled lives. Others, throw the shackles off and scream out and march towards Guelah.
Where are you in this process? Do you go two steps up the ladder, rest, fall back a step, climb three steps higher and eventually feel that you have raised yourself up to the next level where you see things better and are able to make better decisions. Do you long to turn your life around whether it's spiritually or even changing the way you think or eat? What steps do you take? I mean ... you do want to evolve out of that cocoon and finish the process, don't you?
It's something to think on next time you rush into the car or the house with your packages and forget to stop and look at the flowers about you or the clouds or sun about to set as it lingers a moment near the tops of the trees. And, if you are lucky enough to have a beautiful Yellow Trumpet Tree near the driveway, stop and see if there are some cute, little yellow butterflies happily fluttering about doing their part in the process.
Stop rushing about and living on automatic. Remember the beautiful, butterfly and how many steps it had to take before it left it's own Golus and finally, fulfilled it's true purpose.
Take time to stop, look and live and enjoy the beautiful moments of Moshiach around us ... they are there if you just take the time to open up your eyes and live Geulah filled lives.
(Ps... patiently wait for the silly commercial, good things are worth waiting for...)
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