Good morning…
Last weekend, I led a retreat with thirty-two women for Kairos, a small Presbyterian church in town. God inspired the “Made for More” retreat material from a funny card I received several years back.
Symbolically, we are all born as caterpillars, mindlessly munching the leaf upon which we are born. Yet, we are made to evolve into more. For this to happen, as my spiritual mentor Betty Skinner told me regularly, “Sue, the Big I must die.” When the time is right, we die to caterpillar living, crawling away from the crowd and cocooning with our Creator. Leaving behind our old larval life, we gradually shed the 5 C’s of our false self, surrendering our tendency to compete, compare, complain, control, condemn and freeing the true self secreted in our soul.
From the pictures I collected for our Soul Collage experience, I chose these two images. One represents my young caterpillar life. The other represents my butterfly nature emerging, flowering into the sun. “Sassy Sue” must die as God grows for me a unique set of wings. During our quiet reflection time, I scribbled my pathway forward. I adapted a quote we read out loud together.
“Abandon the clamor of self-will.”
Once I have done that,
God gives me back my personality.
I am wholly God’s.
I am more myself than ever.
As I woke in the night to write this blog, I opened an unexpected email from one of the women who was on the retreat.
“Hi Sue,” she wrote. “I love this quote so much! I just created this image and wanted to share it. Thank you for your inspiring and encouraging words this weekend. So many women have shared with me how impactful the retreat was and how your stories and your content really spoke to their hearts, mine included! I loved the creative ways you encouraged us to uncover what is going on in our souls. Thank you for all the time and effort you put into putting together such a beautiful and meaningful retreat! God really spoke to us through you!”
What creative affirmation God offers us freely, as we evolve into uniquely more!
…our competence comes from God. He has made us competent as ministers of a new covenant—not of the letter but of the Spirit; for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life (2 Corinthians 3:5b-6, NIV).
…Sue…
P.S. With God offering exquisitely more, I just received this fascinating video from my dear friend, Corinne Adams, as she experiences the migration of the monarch butterflies in Mexico. God’s timing is so so perfect!
