Caterpillar Cogitations

3 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, no one can see the kingdom of God unless they are born again.”
4 “How can someone be born when they are old?” Nicodemus asked. “Surely they cannot enter a second time into their mother’s womb to be born!” (John 3)

It’s been a few years, but we decided to bring home some monarch caterpillars and observe them through their process of transforming into butterflies.

Currently we have 4 caterpillars and 4 chrysalises. The most recent chrysalis formed last night as we watched. First, the caterpillar found a good spot and attached itself with a silk button. Then, it hung in a J and waited for a day or so.

We kept a close eye on it and got some video when the transformation finally began.

Monarch Metamorphosis from Snaphappy on Vimeo.

The whole process takes longer — perhaps a half an hour. The finished product looks like this.

What strikes me the most is how different the process is than I pictured as a child. I never happened to be watching when the chrysalis formed, so I imagined that the caterpillar somehow “spun” its casing — the way a moth does. But in reality it’s much more writhing and uncomfortable than that, and the chrysalis itself seems to grow from within the caterpillar. Up it creeps, carving away all the old caterpillar skin and legs and face, trappings the butterfly will not need.

Is there a spiritual comparison? I think so. For a Christian, transformation begins in the heart that trusts in the Lord. From there outward, he recreates a soul fit for what Hannah Hurnard called “the high places” of his kingdom — a term fit for a butterfly as well as for a mountain goat of the kind Hurnard had in mind.

I’m one of many that has mused over these things. The pictures God places in nature as reminders of his amazing work bring truths back to our attention in powerful ways!

To see a World in a Grain of Sand
And a Heaven in a Wild Flower,
Hold Infinity in the palm of your hand
And Eternity in an hour… (William Blake)