New Life

This is a Butterfly Magnolia. We planted it last spring after it had bloomed, so I wasn't sure what the bloom was going to look like. But I love Magnolia trees and knew I wouldn't be disappointed. How lucky I was that there were several blooms on it after just one year! Magnolias are interesting in the fact that they bloom before they leaf.

You have probably stopped to consider a butterfly before. It starts as a caterpillar, then transforms in its chrysalis into a butterfly. A new creature! A lowly worm into a winged beauty.
The same is true for those who choose to believe in Christ. We are lowly, sinful people. Yet when we accept Christ's blood for our behalf, he enters into us to make us a new life.
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! 2 Cor. 5:17
In just the past few hours, church friends of ours passed their newborn son into the loving arms of Jesus. Six years ago this spring, we and another couple lost our babies to miscarriage and still another close set of friends, gave their son to Jesus just hours after giving birth to him. It's heart-wrenching. The very thought makes my insides yearn and ache so much.
My butterfly magnolia, however, never starts as a worm or anything except for a bud, yet bursts forth into perfect petals. It show forth its beauty unmarred by any leaves.
All of our babies are already in heaven. They got to skip the leafing out completely. They are beautiful forever already. There is a trio of sweet 6 year olds who already know all the children's worship songs. They know the sweetest foods, the funnest games and the coziest spots for naps. Now they are welcoming a new one and will show him the ropes. They will never experience pain, loss or sorrow. They will know only love. The warmest, most fulfilling love of all time.
How great is the love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God! 1 John 3:1

And this is the testimony: God has given us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. He who has the Son has life; he who does not have the Son of God does not have life. 1 John 5:11-12