This Guy called Max

The sun shone hard on little Max as he hatched from his tiny shell one afternoon. He gave his body one good stretch and smiled contentedly at the wonderful day. He sung out joyfully, "Oh, how nice it is to be out! Look at this beautiful garden with all its trees and flowers! I am going to live in this garden all my life!" 


Little Max started out his munching, leaf by leaf, always indulging in a feast before heading to bed by sunset. He sure was contented and grateful that God had provided him with food in such abundance. There just wasn't anything Max would like to change about his life.


The day came when Max was not so little any more and he felt a strange sensation all through his body. He thought he had gotten ill and so rested under a leaf. A few hours later, Max woke up from his rest and wanted to continue his routine but he realised he was immobilized. His whole body seemed paralysed and no matter how hard he tried, he just could not move. Then, he felt his head disintegrating, his body seemed to be different from what it was previously. His entire being was falling apart! "What is happening to me?!" exclaimed Max. He struggled and wriggled, pushed and kicked, but there seemed to be an unknown covering that had engulfed him completely. He was trapped by something beyond his strength to break through. 


Max's world collapsed. His safe haven, his comfort and everything he had enjoyed in his life suddenly gave way to a dark uncertainty of what was happening to him. He cried out, "Let me out!! God, what are you doing?! Get me out!!" He saw his legs slowly disappearing, his long thick body melting down, and all he felt was excruciating pain. Max was convinced he was dying and nothing he did could stop this death.


Few days later, after he had no more energy to rebel against his difficult ordeal, the forceful layer that held him captive for what seemed like eternity broke open and Max forced himself out. He began to scold God saying, "Just what were you thinking!?! Do you know how darn painful that was?! You should have just killed me instead! And what if some bigger creature came to prey on me? I could not even run. You left me completely vulnerable!" Max was fuming mad at God and he crawled to a nearby pond and gazed into it. His eyes grew larger as he saw himself in the reflection. "Who is that?" he thought, "Is that me?" 


It was only then that Max realised he had been transformed from a sluggish caterpillar into a beautiful and majestic butterfly. He made sense of his painful experience of transformation; he saw the light of his captivity, from which he was fighting hard to break free. Max nodded his head. "Now I see it. It was all necessary. I needed to die as a caterpillar. My whole body needed to be completely broken down before God can reshape me into this far more beautiful creature. Now that I see the me I have become, it was all worthwhile."

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Max had matured from a little caterpillar into a mesmerising butterfly but more so, he began to understand that although he may not know what is happening to him, God knows and everything is kept safe in His hands. His careless living evolved into a constant wonderment of his being as fashioned so carefully by God. 

Which part of Max's life cycle are you at now? 

29 Feb 2012, Wednesday
11.51pm