How To Catch a Butterfly
"Just let go" is one of the most popular cliché’s we hear today. "Just Breathe" is another one. We want to scream "really?". When I finally hit a place in my soul that cries out for MORE, the last thing I want is to hear is one more platitude. I’ve felt that way many times in my life. When we've hit our head enough times up against an immovable wall of circumstance, polite encouragement of any kind can seem just trite! We just want ANSWERS! NOW!
I love butterflies. I think they’re the most elegant creatures on earth. Light as a pin with colors that seem other-worldly. I’ve been inside of butterfly enclosures where hundreds of these fascinating beings flit around so unaware of themselves, much less their beauty, and land on leaves, just out of reach.
Catching butterflies seems impossible. Just like chasing dreams, often they vanish in mid-flight. But I think the simplest way to ‘catch’ a butterfly, or a dream, may be to stop, take a deep breath and notice the fullness of their beauty. Sometimes, a butterfly will just come land on my shoulder when I least expect it. Dreams are like that too. Knowing them and having them are sometimes two different things. Letting Go doesn’t necessarily mean you should give up on a passion or a dream. It just means letting go of the outcome. I’m talking to myself here too.
Holding onto yourself and losing yourself at the same time is hard work. Taking your eyes off your own beauty and ability, just like the butterfly, gives you a better instinct for living out your life with purpose and meaning. Butterflies don’t live long lives, so they are forced into being who they are completely, without worrying too much about how to do it or what to do. They just simply DO what they were made to do.
Letting go for me simply means consciously putting my dreams in God’s Hands. If they’re His idea in the first place, He gets to decide the outcome. It doesn’t mean that I should just sit around and wait for the perfect moment for the dream to fly. It means that trusting Him that each step is necessary for it to eventually take flight all on its own. Be grateful for every moment along the way and just breathe. Allow the butterfly and your beautiful dream to just land on your very relaxed shoulders!
