The Beauty of Becoming: It’s Been in You All Along

The transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly is one of those natural miracles we all kinda know about. Recently, I took a closer look at what actually happens inside the chrysalis (the transformation stage between caterpillar and butterfly) & it’s a beautiful representation of our transformation in Christ.

When a caterpillar enters its chrysalis, it doesn’t just grow wings and come out prettier. It completely breaks down.

Once it’s sealed inside, the caterpillar releases enzymes that digest almost all of its body. It turns into a soupy, unrecognizable goo. Ewwwww! Organs, tissue, muscles…gone. What’s left is liquid and within that liquid are hidden structures called imaginal discs. These tiny clusters of cells have been inside the caterpillar all along, quietly waiting. And now, in the middle of the mess, they begin to build a new creature: a butterfly.

And here’s the part that got me: That whole process is a picture of our own transformation in Christ.

Sometimes, the journey of dying to ourselves feels like everything is breaking down. The old ways, the false identities, the habits and wounds…we let them go, and it can feel like we’re unraveling. Like we’re in the middle of our own chrysalis season.

But here’s the hope: we already have what we need inside of us.

God has placed the Holy Spirit within us, and His Word is our blueprint. Just like the imaginal discs in the caterpillar, His presence is already there, ready to rebuild us into who God planned us to be “beforehand.”

We’re not being destroyed, we’re being remade.

So if you feel like a puddle of goo (LOL), maybe you’re in the exact space that you need to be for true transformation to happen. Maybe this is the necessary process of becoming. And you can be certain there will be beauty on the other side.

For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them. — Ephesians 2:10

Even in the messy middle, God is working. You were created on purpose & for a purpose, that’s already been established.