Metamorphosis
Metamorphosis: change or transformation. The best example of this in nature is the process by which caterpillars change into butterflies. This has always fascinated me. A seemingly unattractive egg, laid on a leaf, hatches into a caterpillar, which eventually becomes a beautiful butterfly. The caterpillar eats and sheds its skin as it continues to grow. This process repeats many times, until the caterpillar finally creates a pupa, and outer casing that will nurture the caterpillar as it transforms into an adult butterfly. What is most noteworthy to me about this process is how much change comes from within the pupa itself. It is a slow process of transformation through a complete cycle of life. 10-14 days inside this encasing, that changes a seemingly ordinary caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. Immediately after the butterfly emerges, it still needs some time to grow. To strengthen its wings. But eventually, that butterfly grows strong and gracefully takes flight. Third Ward, Houston Over the past few months, God continues to remind me that to the untrained eye and despairing heart, my neighborhood may look like a caterpillar. But caterpillars are beautiful, because they carry promise to term. Caterpillars are butterflies in the making! The Third Ward, I believe, is undergoing a metamorphosis. It is a neighborhood that brims with so much history, culture, character and hope. Our ministry is also going through a metamorphosis. Over the past few years, we have eaten the leaves of learning, as we explored and discerned where God was leading us. We have also shed some skin, as God constantly surprised us by giving us new models for doing ministry every time we thought we had figured it all out. Now, we are encased and transforming. Through his Spirit, God is breathing new life into what we are doing in the Third Ward. It is hard to do the work of resting, but we trust that God is transforming us into a beautiful ministry that will bring him glory in Houston's historic Third Ward. We believe that God is calling us to nurture our own corner of this neighborhood. The seeds of a new creation are here. Where others see a "worthless" caterpillar, I choose to see a butterfly in the making. God is in the Third Ward. I'm excited to be on this journey, finding the places he is already working, and humbly joining him in his daily work of renewing and restoring all things!
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