Nan’s Butterfly

Nan’s Butterfly

        On July 29th 2018 my beloved wife Nannette went home to be with the Lord after a 14 month battle with stage four ovarian cancer. This was four months prior to our fiftieth wedding anniversary.

Romans 8:28 is always a go to verse for the” they that mourn shall be comforted. “

“And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.”

As true as God’s word is the “those that” cannot always see the “good” until they let God work it in and that is exactly what one has to do. It is still not easy for me but God puts it together and it started with Nan’s butterfly.

Early in the spring after the massive surgery and all the chemo we heard the bad news that a few spots of cancer remained; which would mean more chemo. We were watching TV one day and saw an ad for some plants that would attract butterflies – especially monarchs which were Nan’s favorites. One plant was to have nice orange and red flowers and the other white flowers.

Actually, we would have a contest every year that whoever saw the first monarch of the season won. The other would have to buy the coffee or lunch we would have on our next outing. Of course the plants would give her the complete advantage because she was the one who watered the plants most of the time. Well, the plants came and were potted and began to grow. in the meantime, the cancer grew too. The new chemo treatments were not checking the cancer. Nan grew more sick. a couple of hospital stays; more surgery and then the worse Hospice!

        After the funeral the plants continued to grow. The flowered one bloomed and the other did nothing but have green leaves and I didn’t see any butterflies. As fall neared I noticed the one with the green leaves started to lose some. I thought “there you go you’re dying too!” But as I looked closer I was surprised to see a bunch of caterpillars on it. They were eating the leaves. I went straight for the bug spray. But then I thought, I wondered if they were monarch caterpillars. So I got out the old world book encyclopedia and looked it up. Sure enough they were monarch.

So before they ate all of the leaves I decided to grab a few of them and put them in jars with the stem and leaves and see what would happen. All three cocooned but only one looked like it was going to make it through the complete cycle. By this time it was  a week or so into September. I had already put a bouquet of fall flowers on her grave. For Nan fall started September first but she still wore white? I monitored the cocoon daily. The book said the chrysalis should hatch in about ten days. It took about twelve, maybe it was because it was in the garage.

        I had a butterfly, how amazing! From a green blob to a full grown butterfly. Now what? I went and grabbed a sprig of the flowers and placed them in the jar. It went straight to it and started to feed. It started to promptly move its wings so I guess it was ready to fly. I knew immediately that I was going to release it on her grave.

The  day for the release arrived so me and the butterfly took a trip to the grave site. The wind was as currents across the plain of the graveyard. A nice sunny day, the wind crisp. Jet noise filled the air. I placed the jar on the grave and removed the lid. It did nothing. I placed the jar on its side. Still nothing.  So I  guess I needed to give it a little urge so I began to wiggle the jar a little. Finally it left. But what was amazing it went straight to the artificial flowers on her grave and stayed there for approximately four minutes before it left. (See videos.) It was as if it was saying ” Hi Nan! you are free such as I am.”

Select Image to View Video

Cancer isn’t good in adults or children. Sickness of any kind isn’t good. Nor are all the other maladies that may befall us. So how, do we as Christians, handle all the tribulations the Bible says we will encounter? “In the world you will have tribulations, but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” How do we be of good cheer? Let’s go back to Romans 8:28. It starts out with ” We know” this is the key point. As Christians “we know.” Sometimes it doesn’t seem like. We need to be encouraged. We need to listen. We need to draw near to God. (2 Pt. 1:) says “we have been given all things that pertain to life and godliness.” But we forget the truth of God’s word. We go the way of the double minded. We let our sorrows and circumstances speak to us instead of God’s truth. Furthermore in (Romans 8:28 ) it says “we love him and are called according to his purpose. ” We love Him because He first loved us.” (1 Jn 4:10) I know that my Nan is with the one who loves me and He has a purpose. I don’t know what that purpose exactly is yet, but I will see it as I follow His path.