Renewed life, transformed bodies

I’m back with Part II of our transformation saga!  (Click here to read Part I.)  My friend Karen shared some of her precious chrysalises with me so that I could document their progress.  What an amazing process to behold!

This whole experience has been an illustration of Revelation 21:5 for me:  He who sits on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.”  Here new means anew or renewed.  It means renovated, better, of higher excellence, new in character or mode.  The things being made new are connected to what came before but have now passed away.  I hope these photos help stir your holy imagination!

After just a few days each bright green chrysalis looked like this …

 

… and then like THIS after just a couple more days!

 

After emerging from the chrysalis, a new butterfly needs time to finish gaining strength.  During this time it clings to the clear, empty shell that once served as its protective home.

 

It is really good at clinging to safety.  I could feel the strength in its microscopically tiny feet!

 

Every detail is placed with exquisite precision, even details that are invisible to the naked eye.

 

Each phase of development is necessary to produce the end result …

 

… renewed life in a transformed body.

Thank You, Lord, for this promise and this miniature renewal process playing out visibly and repeatedly in Creation.  I look forward to the great renewal to come!

We eagerly await the coming of the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ; who, by exerting that power which enables Him even to subject everything to Himself, will not only transform but completely refashion our earthly bodies so that they will be like His glorious resurrected body.

Philippians 3:20-21