The Very Hungry Caterpillar - Eric Carle

This is a book I had read to me as a child, a book I read to my children (we had the pop up version - amazing!) and a book I have bought for my nephews (also pop up - once you've popped you can't go back). If you have never read it... I mean... WHAAAAAAAT?

Here's the synopsis...

A tiny caterpillar hatches out of his egg and proceeds to eat everything in sight. He eventually gets a tummy ache but he then transforms into a beautiful butterfly.

On the back of my first ever foray into World Book Day dressing up (they went as The

White Witch & Peter Rabbit respectively - home made might I add), one of my children then requested she went as the butterfly from The Very Hungry Caterpillar the next year - I should have set the bar much much lower... I'd have preferred she asked to go as the caterpillar.

Now you may be thinking that we're going to get into a moral lesson on gluttony here, but we are not. You see the caterpillar, who I admit really does put it away, is doing what he was made to do. And so here is the fundamental human truth we learn from this story - We are made for something, and when we do that something we find beauty and fulfilment.

The caterpillar, from the moment he's born, is supposed to eat all he can. He was made to do so. He's not being gluttonous or greedy he's being... well, a caterpillar. Without his feast of "1 piece of chocolate cake, 1 ice cream cone, 1 pickle, 1 slice of Swiss cheese, 1 slice of salami, 1 lollipop, 1 piece of cherry pie, 1 sausage, 1 cup cake, and 1 slice of watermelon" he would not be able to become the butterfly. He was made to eat all he could and become something more. As are we.

The Bible tells us that we are made to bring God glory and to know Him and enjoy Him forever.

"Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all our soul and with all your strength"

Deuteronomy 6v5

The reality is we don't do this perfectly - nor does the caterpillar for that matter, he really should have stuck to leaves. We mess up God's great purpose for us and consequently, we feel the effects of that. Every single Bible character we meet fails to live out this great purpose, despite some of them having the Son of God actually living with them at the time. But all is not lost. For those who follow Jesus, we still get to keep going and ultimately live with God forever in heaven - where we won't mess it up. 

My daughter wanted to skip to the end and just become the butterfly without the hard work. We are so often tempted to take shortcuts in fulfilling our destiny. There is grace for the daily failure we face in that. Most often, we just feel like the fat little caterpillar who ate too much - taking what God intended for good and pushing it too far. But wait... God isn't done yet. It is at the very end of the story, when the caterpillar is really feeling quite sorry for himself that God does his best work. The transformation, despite the questionable fulfilling of the mandate, transpires and the result is beyond what we could dream.

So hold on, encourage your little caterpillars to hold on. There is a day coming when they will be transformed.

"He was a beautiful butterfly"