Butterflies Are People Too

"The butterfly counts not months but moments, and has time enough." ~Rabindranath Tagore

A couple of years ago, I was helping my wife Laura with an event at our church. It was a women's event and she along with a friend were helping with childcare. As you know very well, when taking care of children, it is best to fill that time with activities. So my job was to help create one of the planned activities to "paint butterflies."

As you can guess, my days leading up to the event were filled by making large foot and a half wide paper mache butterflies. It was an undertaking that did not seem quite so involved when I first agreed to help. Quite a job it turned into but it was also an enjoyable distraction from work. I even took a small amount of 'ribbing' from a few friends. As one friend mockingly said, "butterflies are people too!"

All of this activity and the ribbing made me think about how we ponder our lives. No, this is not a discussion regarding the metaphor of "turning ourselves from the plain caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly." This discussion speaks to what Dr. Carl Sagan had written which said "we are like butterflies who flutter for a day and think its forever." We can debate Sagan's life and beliefs but that is not my intent.

What I would like to discuss are those small moments in time by which we feel or experience the feeling that life goes on forever. In some small way, maybe this is how we encourage ourselves to go forward with new things.

In reality, all of us know that life here on earth will end at some point in time. We do not know when that time will come and I firmly believe that is for the best. If we could choose a date, would you be apt to say "what is the use in trying, I'm only here until....?"

We each need to think and feel that time as being endless and strive to do more then the day before. Even if we realize it could end at any moment, we should try to expand ourselves and grow more in the knowledge of what life has to offer. We should live in such a way as to bring something better to the world around us.

Like the butterfly which lives only a short amount of time, it still has the ability to brighten a child's eye. The butterfly can also brighten your life. Brighten someone's day, brighten your day and remember, "butterflies are people too!"

Stay inspired my friends.