the urgency of breaking free

You must break free! I say “break” because any freedom worth having means breaking away from slavery and bondage. It means leaving something behind, breaking away from it. Like this caterpillar and butterfly realize, true transformation is traumatic. But it is urgently necessary.

I have friends who run a butterfly house. I’ve watched them receive the chrysalides from exotic lands and prepare them so the butterflies can emerge from the cocoon safely and populate the house with their beauty. It is a very very delicate process… from the collecting to the shipping to the pinning to the hatching to the drying to their first flight. Watching the butterflies work to break free is profoundly moving to me. The whole process is at once tender and traumatic.

You must break free! To remain where you are will be the death of you. You intuitively know this. But we hesitate because we predict the trauma. We foresee the crisis.

I am equally moved by the people who go through this process. I love helping them. It is a tender time when they are especially vulnerable to predators. So much could go wrong. But it is also a traumatic time when they need encouragement and sometimes assistance. The courage these people must muster is breathtaking. But those who are serious find it. From beginning to end, this is the bible’s predominant theme.

I was talking to a good friend yesterday about her profound transformation. The courage, the risk, the change! But her life is more beautiful than before. Fuller. Larger. And she knows it.

You can do it. No, you must! You must break free!