A BOY, A BUTTERFLY, AND GOD...

A true story, as best I remember it�

 

When I was a boy of about ten, I made a promise to God.

 Now at the time, I was living in a California house, a rather odd turquoise color, but quite fitting with the grape vines and palm tree out front. In the back was a magnificent lavender bush that often attracted bees and butterflies. This innocent bush leads to the dark nature of my little promise.

There, you see it? There on the bush? A majestic butterfly… a monarch… golden and rich with black trim… fluttering so softly.  Oh, I wanted it, but knew I could never catch such a thing on my own. So I did what I knew to do… I prayed.  I prayed to God that I could catch it… that it would sit for me until it was in my grasp. I swore that after I had held it I would release it again, and that would be that. My promise was made.

I moved closer, fingers outstretched… reaching slowly… and there it sat… motionless, as if God swallowed time and I alone could move… my fingertips touched its silken wings, and I pressed them together. It was mine. The wind whispered again, and the creature came alive in my fingers; stunned at being caught by so large and clumsy a beast as me.

Now, as you may know, most promises of young boys are easily forgotten or pushed aside for more expedient things. As I looked upon the beautiful coloring and felt the life moving in my fingers, I did what many boys would be tempted to do. I took it and plunged it into a jar of water and sealed the lid, sealing its fate. And oh I shook it, and rolled it around, until its body was doused in water.

As I watched it floating in the jar, I grabbed a piece of wood and some pins. This would be my prize. I reached in and placed it soft on the wood, pinning wing and body one by one…

Nearly an hour passed and I came to see the monarch. Looking down, I noticed subtle movement in its body… pressing against the pins… wings shaking… in this moment, my promise washed over me like cold rain. I was ashamed. Slowly, I pulled out the pins from the wings… from the body… Somehow, I would keep my promise to God.

Outside, I set its body on the bush, watching to see if there might be one more miracle. And then, it happened. The butterfly fluttered and rose into the sky, as if I had never touched it; as if time had been halted for its sake.

Here I reflect on that moment, knowing that even a small boy, when given the power of life or death can so easily be led astray. And in our world we often yield ourselves to power hungry people, willing to sacrifice anything or anyone for their purposes. In it all, we long for life and peace.

Yet, I remember the butterfly that God saved that day, and I realize that peace is not only in my poor hands. Tyrants will come and go, but let us, the childlike, the poor, the weak, let us strive for life and peace with every breath. Let us promise it to our children. Perhaps, they too may see a miracle.

I wonder sometimes if that butterfly might still be alive somewhere, not too far away, and God smiling…

 

Reviews

[Arthur Henn]

Craig, this was an amazing piece. It always seem that the reality of our being become the better of our writings as we listen to what has been stamped and etched upon our heart. A tool of a message in these words you have written for us all here at the cafe..

Thank you for sharing such a wonderful piece.

Art

[Anastasia Starlena]

Absolutley inspiring sweet story. It brought tears to me. Amazing beautiful work. Thank you for sharing.

[Fabian G. Franklin]

A wonderful story! I loved every word. Sent you a read request on a similar thought of my own, you'll see. Children can be most loving and most cruel but before their hearts grow calloused their tender conscience is still close to God. We must strive to be accepted as such and keep our own hearts tender with respect to all living things. I love the feeling behind this. Great stuff!

[The Rock And Roll Cowbo..]

God works in mysterious ways as we know and that fascinating story is proof... thanks for sharing something so inspirational it helps to keep the faith.

[George Love]

Amazing work here, full of emotion, wonder and innocence. Fantastic story with one truly heartfelt lesson. Great stuff!

[Fran Marie]

An amazing piece of writing my friend with a great message therein,simply loved this

Thanks for sending this my way~Fran

[Shellie]

I really love this story. Would it be true?
Very well written...told as it was but with an extra lift by adding present thoughts to your story. I agree with you immensly. This reminded me of when i was driving up the motorway[speedrate on motorways being 120 kms] i saw a fly on my side mirror clinging on for dear life. i thought f*ck it dont have time to stop but my eyes kept checking if he was ok so after another km i pulled in and gently gently flicked him off. yes it was only a fly but i still feel glad i did do it. he could have been swept off and hit a following car. one less life in the world and i could have prevented it. so your story has sealed my decision to do this more.


When you said you put the lid on and shook it i was thinkin ohmigod yet i no children dont really understand the extent of their actions and then the butterfly lived and you helped by releasing it from the pins. that part was well developed, as was the rest of course but that action helped the miracle of God keeping the butterfly alive so know you were always part of a miracle. as sad as that part of the story was i find this uplifting in a sense of if wrong is done you can always redeem it.

[Stephanie]

Inspiring and soul lifting! When you came to the part about shaking the butterfly in a jar of water, I was like: Aww, poor butterfly..... But then you let it back out and it lived! There's such an important lesson to be learned from this, and many people don't realize that they always hold the power between life and death. This was beautiful :)

[~*~Peace Keeper~*~]

I love this story...it teaches us a lesson...to keep our promises no matter what..it was a beautiful story...and well written.
Great Job :)

[Kelly Scheppers]

A beautifully told story, Craig! I used to collect fireflies in a jar, but never attempted to catch a butterfly! There so captivating to watch...


; )