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Surely there is a future,
and your hope will not be cut off.
Proverbs 23:18 (ESV)

Butterflies have become especially meaningful to me as a representation of hope and new beginnings and promise.

A butterfly must endure the cocoon to become what it is meant to be. What it once was must undergo a transformation and re-doing – sometimes a long process. I have read that there are some who stay in the cocoon for an entire season until the weather is suitable for them to emerge.

If a butterfly’s cocoon is anything like the “cocoon of grief” then it is a dark lonely place. It is quiet, oh so very quiet. It is confusing and unsettling and it seems endless. Yet they endure for they know instinctively that to be what they were meant to be the process is necessary.

We all must endure “cocoons” of various kinds during our lives – a time when God calls us apart to reshape, re-form, re-group to get ready to fly again.

I have gone through many such cocoons and each time I have emerged different – yet stronger.

This grief cocoon, however, is by far the hardest of them all.

It is dark here, it is lonely here, it is quiet here, it is confusing here. Everything I once was is changing and being re-shaped and re-formed. Yet I know that if I am to survive – and survive I will – I must undergo this process called grief. I must let the cocoon do its work.

Just as many of my sisters in sorrow have gone before me and flown towards the light. I will arise and shine and fly towards the light as well. They lead the way for me and the others who will come behind me that are still waiting in the darkness.

We will survive because we know the Light is there waiting for us, calling us and guiding us.

At times I want to rush through this cocoon and be free of it – then God speaks to me gently and says, “Be patient little one. I have a plan.” So I wait – knowing that the Light will always be there waiting for me to arise and awake to new beginnings and His promises.

I will emerge – I will be strong. I will fly towards the Light – The Light of the Hope I have in Christ.

And so will you, dear sister.

Father: This cocoon is difficult to endure. The days of loneliness, solitude, and tears at times can seem endless. We are fragile here within these walls. Protect us as You are renewing us. Bring us forth into Your light. Amen