Dear Journal,

I feel compelled to write today as I have just recently experienced an eye-opening moment. As I was sitting outside on the patio, my eyes were fixated on the garden boxes hanging underneath the garage windows. All seemed perfectly still in the world. But as I was mindlessly looking at the flowers, a sudden burst of motion came into my line of vision. It was a butterfly. It was fluttering to and fro in the air, flapping its paper thin wings which were painted by God in the most blazing shade of orange, with black stripes weaved in the middle of the orange, and small yellow and white dots on the frail edges. I simply could not stop staring at its magnificence. Finally, after doing some loops in midair for about a minute, it landed on one of the flowers in the garden box. I moved my chair closer to it to get a better look. It had landed on a petite flower that was such a vibrant shade of pink that it actually seemed to glow. Up close, I could see the butterfly’s thin, jet-black body shooting up the middle with its head at the end. After examining its contrast of orange and black, I recognized it to be a monarch butterfly. A warm breeze blew through my hair and made the dainty flower sway with the wind. The butterfly remained still, with the exception of its antennae, which were moving all about in random directions. In the background, I could hear the trickling of water from the fountain and the hum of bumblebees pollenating the yard. The hot, summer sun heated the air just enough to have a drop of sweat run down my face every few minutes. All seemed still and at peace in the world yet again. When all of a sudden, the butterfly twitched its wings into action and flew off the flower. I watched it travel up into the sky and out into unknown territories, going wherever the wind took it. It was then that I realized something and what that butterfly represented. It would probably never return to this area again, but rather go wherever life decides to take it. It was not bound to one particular location, but rather it came, it saw what it needed to see, and left. Perhaps that is how we should all live our lives, to not be bound to a location for the sake of tradition or fear of leaving a comfort zone. We must all spread our wings and allow Him to guide our life wherever He wants it to go.
-Eric

*This summer, I had followed the butterfly’s advice. I let Him take me wherever I was needed, and as a result, I ended up at two Christian camps in order to meet some of the best people in the world.