I knew Tami in high school and was so in awe of how smart she was. We were friends through science class … Biology or Chemistry, perhaps … most likely Chemistry since that was her college major. It’s been so long now I’m not sure. Nearly a year ago, by God”s design, we met again at our 40th High School Reunion. We share a deep and abiding love for God through our servants heart and our passion for music through our love for singing in the choir at our respective churches. To explain our friendship would violate the joys, secrets and treasures we’ve shared. And so I will simply use her explanation of the butterfly which she has a passion for. We deemed me the tulip simply because I love flowers.

“My passion or “love affair” with butterflies began at an early age. When my mom deemed me old enough to ride my bike up the street “out of her sight”, that’s when my world really opened up. I was probably 8 or 9 when I can remember riding up our road to a house that had a beautiful marigold garden right on the street side of their yard. Marigolds are one of those flowers that attract butterflies and it never failed that I would see two or more of them fluttering about among the blossoms. My mom let me get a butterfly net, which was made out of cheesecloth. She made me promise that I would let them go if I caught one. She didn’t have to tell me that as I had NO intention of keeping one in a jar or allowing one to die and be pinned to some board for “show and tell”. No, my fascination was with seeing how beautiful their wings were up close and then watching them fly. I always wanted to fly. Not in a plane, but just me. I still do. Maybe it’s the freedom of movement without anything to encumber me, maybe it’s just a desire to “feel beautiful” like a butterfly something so foreign to how I really felt about myself. I often dream of flying and those are the nights that I wake from sleep feeling happier and lighter.

It wasn’t until later that I learned about metamorphosis of the butterfly and began to understand the symbolism of what it means to “die to self”.   I was in Junior High then…learning about the butterfly “life cycle” in Science class. I had no idea that a caterpillar would become a butterfly.   Caterpillars were “weird” looking and moved their bodies in a way that seemed slow and laboring, inching forward just a little a time. So much work for so little progress. That was me all right…..not very pretty to look at and painfully shy. I didn’t seem to make much progress forward in life…everything seemed twice as hard and seemed to never be enough. Little did I know that very same year, God would place His hand on my life and plant His love in my heart and I would begin to fully understand His sacrifice for me on the cross and what that would mean for my life.

I learned that once the caterpillar spins its silky, warm, protective cocoon, it begins to digest itself….completely. Nothing about it would indicate that there was any life left, in fact, opening the cocoon at that point would mean certain death. But, miraculously, within that “soup”, were all the cells that would someday form that butterfly. They were disorganized and needed to be “knit together” but time and the protection of the cocoon would allow that transformation from something ugly that crawls on the ground to something beautiful that flies in the air.   It was not lost on me that this was exactly what happened with Jesus. He was born to DIE, to be RESURRECTED, and to LIVE again. And if He could do that, maybe He could help me die to self and live for Him.

I will always LOVE butterflies, the ones with stunningly beautiful wings, but more so, the ones who came from the ugliest caterpillars……..

You have to die…..to be a butterfly….”

Written by my absolute dearest friend ever in honor of Friendship Day 2017.

God uses all creatures .. butterflies .. and flowers, which propagate one another for the continuance of life … how one can say, regardless of the religion you may or may not worship, God isn’t real?

Science class or friendship … God is definitely real and alive in the world of Tulips & Butterflies! LOVE you “Tami Toolip” … Happy Friendship Day 2017