I taught young people about butterflies and moths at the Forever Faithful Pathfinder Camporee. One morning before the children arrived, I walked into the butterfly tent and saw a swallowtail butterfly emerging from its chrysalis. I was very excited at first, but then I realized it was in trouble. Instead of hanging safely from its empty chrysalis, it fell to the ground and began walking around, its wings still wet and crumpled. I knew it had only a few minutes to pump up its wings, or they would harden in the wrong position.
I put my hand in front of it, and it crawled up my finger, stopping at the tip when it could get no higher. There it sat and began to pump up its wings. I watched the beauty of its transformation as its wings slowly extended and straightened into perfect symmetry as God intended. It continued sitting on my fingertip, letting its wings harden.

I had other chores to do that required two hands. But the butterfly was fully occupying one hand and was not yet ready to fly, so I waited patiently. As I waited, I began praying that I would have the same patience in my work among the Ama people, not substituting my own timetable for God’s or trying to run ahead of His spirit.

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