A Whisper of Hope

The last few months my attention has been drawn to butterflies. Yes, it was spring so of course butterflies are evident - but this spring it seemed God has been specifically drawing my attention to these beautiful creatures. Their resounding life story of hope has penetrated my heart. The beauty of breaking out. The struggle through the storm of the cocoon. The freedom of flight. Every time I see a butterfly - there is a song of hope that springs up in my spirit. This song sings of the amazing truth that life is not always what it appears to be. The chorus resounds with a steady reminder that we don’t always understand the mystery of what God is doing “behind the scenes” or “in the cocoon”. As I walked around Central Park on a warm, sunny June day - my friend and I were talking about life. In between the stories we would stop and snap pictures of the ponds, the bridges, the famous New York scenes. We stood on the edge of one of the beautiful ponds, a picturesque bridge in the background and a city skyscraper in the distance reminding us that we really were in New York. A perfect picture of Central Park. Click. Smile, one more - click. We laughed and did the normal routine - let’s make sure the picture is ok before we move on. Then - what is that? We moved into the shade so we could see the picture better . . . a beautiful butterfly right smack in the middle of my Central Park picture! Neither of us had even noticed a butterfly anywhere around. My friend didn’t even see the butterfly when she snapped the picture! There it is - photo bombed by hope. The unseen, pulling back the curtain and reminding us - there is more than meets the naked eye. There is grace and beauty and hope fluttering around us far more often than we realize.