God of the Monarch Butterflies

I am perched high atop a leather cushioned bar stool with an Italia sports cap on my head, facing South Main Street in Worcester’s inter-cultural neighborhood. Gray skies have been sporadically bursting out with heavy rains and then quieting down to a spitting and now it is dry again.

A stream of men on bicycles and pedestrians join the constant colorful stream of traffic. The big blue WRTA buses whir past intermingled with pickup trucks and women with hats pulled down. It’s raw and muggy on this late August evening.

Here at the Straight Up Café a warm Christian coffee house has emerged in what used to be a bread bakery to waft its unique flavors in this ethnic urban neighborhood. Now a big white and yellow smiley face has been painted on the glass and shelves full of an assortment of colorful team sport caps and books line the walls. This space has been transformed from baking and serving bread to celebrating and serving the Maker and the bread of life!

I wish I could say I can smell or even taste the coffee but the shop is technically closed for the day. The pots are rinsed, the carpets are being vacuumed, and all the food is stowed for another day.

At the big oak table with me sit the diverse members of my writers group, everyone writing eagerly. It’s only been ten minutes but our minds have taken off into a host of dreams and impulses that only God knows.

Writing can be like dreaming. You travel wherever your mind can take you. Past, present, or future, it is a limitless journey that costs you nothing. A clean page is a fresh start as much as any white canvas to an artist! You take your pen to paper or open a clean page on the laptop and take to flight as an eagle begins her journey.
 

The other day I heard about the amazing migration of the monarch butterflies. That something so small its brain would be dwarfed by my tiniest toe nail is able to lift its fragile wings and make a journey from here to Mexico and back is unbelievable!

I am speechless to imagine it. I couldn’t find my way to Mexico without a host of maps and signs and a working GPS! HOW on earth do these little INSECTS manage?

Certainly if a butterfly can make such a journey in God’s will and purpose for its miniscule yet incredibly far-reaching life, certainly I can find my way to where I have to go as I depend on Him. I will not fear the journey ahead. No matter where it leads me, this great God of creation has sworn to provide all I need.  

Not to worry that I just heard yesterday that the house I’m living in is going to be sold. Not to worry that I don’t know where I’ll go or how I’ll pay the rent. God knows.  

The God of the monarch butterflies will lead me all the way. 

Pens down!

+++++++++++++++

After writing for fifteen minutes, we took turns reading our individual segments in the class—always an enlightening experience. This little exercise exposed a rainbow of unique perspectives and views since we all sat facing different directions around our big oak table as we wrote.

In this particular class however, it was Penny who described a clown on the stage behind me twisting balloon animals the whole time! Isn’t that spectacular? I knew this girl was a trained clown visiting the café, but the entire time I sat facing the street and reflecting on what I could see from that vantage point. I had no idea what was going on right behind my back!   

Though it’s hilarious to imagine a clown behind you making balloon animals, isn’t that a beautiful lesson for life? How much do we miss all around us every day and how much more can we benefit by sharing our varying views and experiences?  

Not only does pausing to write reflectively open you up to the world around you, but by listening to one another’s voices, we open up to experience whole new avenues and perspectives we would miss if we stayed on our own path and journeyed alone.