A New Creation

Photo credit: Free-images.com

They say that change is constant. 

A caterpillar being transformed into a butterfly is the epitome of change. It’s good to keep in mind, though, that this change doesn’t come easily and it doesn’t happen overnight. The caterpillar eats voraciously, and nearly continuously, to grow strong. After she builds her chrysalis and is transformed into a butterfly inside it, she has to work to emerge from it. Her struggle to break through the hard shell is necessary for her to develop strong, healthy wings. Some people have tried to ‘help’ butterflies emerge, but this actually harms them: The caterpillar’s and butterfly’s respective work is what lets her reach her ultimate goal. In all stages of the butterfly’s development, there’s no stagnation. There’s constant work and constant change. 

The same is true for us in our spiritual life. We’ll become stronger in our faith when we resist stagnation – when we work at our spiritual growth and ask God to work with us. We’ll grow stronger in our faith by learning, through prayer and experience, how God wants us to express that faith. We’ll discover how we can show our love for God and for our neighbor with our personalities and talents and all the other resources He’s given us. What God asks of us may very well change with the seasons of our life. As we mature and as our faith grows stronger, we’ll learn to follow God’s promptings and change as He guides us to. And over time, we’ll be transformed – we’ll live with and for Christ more and more. We’ll become kinder, wiser, more patient, more generous, more compassionate, more charitable, more forgiving, more loving, and more prayerful. We’ll become more and more focused on God and less on ourselves. We’ll become more like Him.

To let our Lord accomplish all of this in us, we have to be open to change; we have to allow ourselves to be changed by the One Who created us. To become more like God, we have to become a new creation – we have to become the people He created us to be.

This doesn’t happen overnight, and it doesn’t happen without effort on our part. So, let’s ask our Lord for the grace to open our hearts to Him, and to help us see how He wants us to change. Let’s ask Him to help us identify and abandon our old, stagnant ways. Let’s ask Him to draw us closer to Himself and to help us take advantage of opportunities to spend more time with Him during our day. Let’s ask Him to show us how we might find new ways to show His love to the people in our family and in our community. 

Let’s ask God for the courage to let Him transform us into the people He created us to be.

“So whoever is in Christ is a new creation...” – 2 Corinthians 5:17

Let everything I do be with You, for You, and because of You.

Thank you for reading my reflection.  All thanks to God for giving me the ideas and guiding my words!    © 2025 Gina Bedell   

  

Through these reflections, I invite you, the reader, to reflect on a given topic and then seek deeper answers through prayer, additional spiritual reading, and/or consultation with clergy or other qualified persons in order to grow in your faith and understanding of God’s love and will for your life. 

Please share this with your friends by clicking on one of the icons below.  Comments are always welcome! 

If you or someone you know would like to receive these writings directly, please email me at ginabedell1@gmail.com and I will add you to my ‘BCC’ email list. 

You can also find my posts on my Facebook page!

P.S.

Pray for peace at home and around the world. Donate to a cause that tugs at your heart. Take care of those around you; take care of our planet. Pray for the people around the globe whose lives have been torn apart by war and natural disasters.