Marissa - Butterfly

Roger told me that he called Marissa his butterfly. Juliana his firefly. Marissa was the chitter of chitter and chatter. As I was thinking and looking through pictures of Marissa and missing her so much I kept thinking...

Butterflies.

Last year my class read a book called I Miss Grandpa about a grandson whose grandfather died. His parents talk to him about death using a caterpillar as an example. Our life on earth is like the caterpillar, our death like the chrysalis, and our resurrection like the hatching of the butterfly--transformation. We did a whole unit on this book and the concepts in it. As part of the unit we raised butterflies.

When they came they were little worm looking things and I’m pretty sure that I was more excited than the kids. Everyday we journaled on what we saw them doing.

The caterpillars grew quickly larger and larger until one morning we saw them actually spilling themselves into their chrysalis! It was an amazing thing to watch. Then we anxiously awaited their hatching and I prayed they wouldn’t die but all come out alive.



Slowly, one by one, they each came out of their cocoons. We never saw one totally hatch but Matthew caught it on video and we watched it together. We kept them, still journaling on them daily, and waited for them to be stronger so we could release them.

On our release day it was a beautiful day and each of the students got to hold a butterfly for a few seconds, some longer. Then we went inside and journaled on how they felt.


Marissa wrote this: "Today we released the butterflies. It was sad because they were beautiful."

Reading that now I think, yes. I am sad to let you go because you were so beautiful. You were so beautiful and my heart aches with missing you.

I think Marissa was meant to be the butterfly for all of us. She truly was a flitter and flutter of beauty, color, and life while we had her. And yet, she is more. She is our real butterfly. She is what we now cling to when we think of resurrection morning. We think of seeing Marissa coming out of the grave, dancing, and full of life--in a totally new, familiar, and transformed way. She is a reality of Jesus’ promise that says, “I am resurrection and the life, he who believes in Me will live, even though he dies.” John 11:25 She believed in Him. We will see her again. She is a butterfly and when we see her next, we will all be transformed together, in the twinkling of an eye and we will all be caught up together in the clouds to meet Jesus-God. Our Savior, Redeemer.

1 Thessalonians 4: 13-18
“Brothers, we do not want you to be ignorant about those who fall asleep, or to grieve like the rest of men, who have no hope. We believe that Jesus died and rose again and so we believe that God will bring with Jesus those who have fallen asleep in him. According to the Lord’s own word, we tell you that we who are still alive, who are left till the coming of the Lord, will certainly not precede those who have fallen asleep. For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first. After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. And so we will be with the Lord forever. Therefore encourage each other with these words.”