In school Millie has been learning about
METAMORPHOSIS
and last week brought home a furry caterpillar in a little jar with instructions on how to watch and care for this little guy as he became a butterfly.
Millie was THRILLED!
“A pet mom! We have a real pet!”
(she has wanted a pet for a L O N G time)
As I read through the instructions I started to do some calculations – once the caterpillar became a chrysalis we had 10 days before it would become a butterfly – we are due to leave for England before the chrysalis would be opening… we might get lucky and it would open at the last minute… but I was a bit nervous that she wasn’t going to see the final stage of metamorphosis.
A few days ago I was standing at the bathroom sink. Jan was talking to Millie and mentioned to her that we might be in England before the butterfly would emerge.
She began to weep.
As I listened to the exchange I had a very strong feeling that I should go, right then, and talk to Millie to see how she felt about trying an experiment.
Not of a biological nature but an experiment of faith.
“I believe that God has the power to get that butterfly to come out before we go away. He has all the power. He can move mountains so I know he do this to. What do you think, Mills?”
“Yes, I think so too.”
“Well, let’s start praying!”
So we did. Right then and there. We said a prayer. And we prayed every night for this miracle.
Millie watched the chrysalis VERY carefully.
“It’s turning brown! I think that means it will open soon.”
I didn’t see any changes in the chrysalis AT ALL.
One day we bumped the dresser where the box sat that contained the chrysalis and it jiggled it a bit.
“It’s moving! It’s moving! Maybe it will open right now!!”
You get the idea.
You know what is so crazy about faith – and trusting in God – it is always a leap. You have to walk out into the unknown. You have to trust – and let go. And when you are teaching your children about faith it feels like that much more is on the line.
This morning Millie came running up to me,
“It’s open! It’s open! I thought when I saw it it was a spider’s web but then I saw the wings! It is open!”
“Wow, if it is open then it has opened a full four days early!” I said to myself.
When we got to Millie’s room there is was!
OUR butterfly!
Our little miracle!
I said, “Millie, God heard your prayers! He did it! He gave us a miracle!”
We said a prayer again, in the very same spot where we’d said that first prayer,
and Millie said,
“Heavenly Father, thank you for my butterfly. Thank you that you have all the power and all the blessings and thank you for the blessing that you gave to me.”
Then she ran to tell her dad.
I don’t know what you are facing or what your heart is longing for – but just so you know where we stand – here in Dawesome territory –
We KNOW God is listening.
He WILL bless us – all of us!
He LOVES us.
Just ask Millie!
She’ll tell you ALL about it.
P.S. After all of this we ran outside (some of us didn’t have our pants on) to get our butterfly something to eat.
We spent a minute finding the best flower in our garden upon which our little friend could chow down.
While Clara smelled the weeds…
Life is good!
May 23rd, 2010 at 8:46 pm
best post. EVER.
May 24th, 2010 at 5:12 am
The miracle began with a loving dad who was paying attention to what was important in his little girl’s world, and cared enough to try to prepare her for a future disappointment. It continued with a loving mom who responded to a prompting immediately and with faith. Then a little girl, who has had experience with prayer, jumped right in with enthusiasm and confidence…… and VOILA!
Good job, Team Dawson!
May 24th, 2010 at 10:17 am
i love this. and i needed this. thank you team dawsome for always choosing the right.
May 24th, 2010 at 11:30 am
so tender! Love you guys!
May 24th, 2010 at 2:38 pm
It just goes to show you that through small and simple means, great, big, wonderful things come to pass! I wish Millie had been in my primary yesterday. I was teaching sharing time, and I asked the kids to share any experiences they’d had with the Holy Ghost, and this would’ve knocked their socks off! I’m glad you shared it via the dawesome blog, though. So wonderful!
Wahoo! Hurray for miracles! Big and small!
May 24th, 2010 at 2:41 pm
Also, I want to give a shout out to my girl, Clara (the cutest, pantless wonder for miles) for taking the time to stop and smell the weeds. That’s true gratitude for yuh!
May 25th, 2010 at 4:05 pm
What a miracle! Thanks for the great reminder God answers ALL prayers and that nothing in this world is too small for his attention.
May 26th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I got choked up reading this. What a beautiful miracle.
May 28th, 2010 at 8:41 pm
ok. so I know this is nothing on the scale of your miracle and I will just have to tell you the details later, but we were at Chuck E. Cheese last night and a certain 5 year old youngster of mine lost her shoes. She was quite devastated and I thought of your little 5 year old and her butterfly. I thought, well… if Eliza can do it, then we can do it too, so I sat her down and had a little faith chat and then we said a prayer. Not two minutes later the shoes were found (and the sweetest little gratitude prayer was offered). Anyway, I just wanted to say thanks for being a good example. One of my favorite things about this post is when you talk about how much more is on the line when you are teaching your kids about faith. It is totally true. Anyway… thanks for being an inspiration to me (again… and again!!)