Dalton Roberts
--My Sunday Journal
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THE PATH TO BUTTERFLYNESS
7-6-08

Recently I used my "Mister Caterpillar" song as the basis for a church talk and several people asked for copies of the talk and the song. The song has not yet appeared on any of my CDs but I ran it off from my computer and the church sent me a copy of the talk and I put it on a CD.

So you'll see the points I want to make, let me print the words to the song:

As Mister Caterpillar moseyed down the road
He stopped and had a chat with Mister Toad
Bye and bye a butterfly came flitting overhead
The caterpillar pointed up and said

You'll never get me up in one of those things
They're pretty as can be but check those wings
They're thin as onionskin, oh it just makes me cringe
You'll never get me up in one of those things

I'm gonna keep my fifty feet here on the ground
They may be slow but they get me around
I've always been afraid of heights and I'll add one more thing
It looks too much like work to flap those wings

If God had meant for us to fly we'd be born with wings
And if that thing should crash your goose is cooked
I'm much too old to try to change, no flying's not for me
I'm doing quite well crawling can't you see
You'll never get me up in one of those things

The first thing the song tells me is who you are is exactly who you are supposed to be.

There's nothing wrong with being a caterpillar. It is a step toward being a butterfly. Even caterpillars have a beauty and uniqueness of their own. Maybe when you are in your caterpillar stage you will be compared to a butterfly and laughed at because you are fuzzy and slow moving. Just be a good caterpillar and complete all the steps a caterpillar goes through on the road to butterflyhood.

Something else the song says to me is accept who you are but don't get stuck. Even if you come to enjoy being a caterpillar don't become a permanent fuzzy, ugly thing. Keep the door open for change and growth.

The song tells me to be fully who you are so you can be more. Step into your greatness, step by step. Completely dedicate yourself to be the best caterpillar when you are in that stage.

A wonderful teaching of the song is that your place of service is where you are. A tiny baby may be so undeveloped that no one would think it capable of being of service to anyone. Yet, nothing so serves our souls as little babies. They can make us beam with their happy laughs and gurgles.

No feeling in my life has been greater than what I experienced when my children spoke their first sentence. One simply said, "See the man" and the other merely said, "See the bridge over the water," but in both cases I almost wrecked my car with excitement over this achievement. They served me right where they were - at the simplest level of human development.

The final lesson in the song is don't religify your status quo. The caterpillar said, "If God had meant for us to fly we'd be born with wings." That makes it all right for him not to fly. It blames his caterpillarness on God. He's stuck there because God didn't give him wings. Bless his little heart, it's all God/'s fault.

God did give him wings. They are waiting in his caterpillarness to be unfolded. His only role is to not resist being a caterpillar.

And to be open to sudden and unexpected butterflyness.