The Very Hungry, and Accepting... Caterpillar

You might be thinking..."Oh yeah- I remember reading that book in Kindergarten" but I didn't know that the word accepting was in the title?" It wasn't, it isn't, and it will never be- but that is what the children's book is about-the caterpillar ACCEPTING his change. The definitions of acceptance are "the act of taking or receiving something offered/ favorable reception; approval; favor./the act of assenting or believing: acceptance of a theory./the fact or state of being accepted or acceptable." The caterpillar accepted his change, and in the end became something more beautiful than he could imagine. The caterpillar did something very important--he RECEIVED his new change. He approved of it, but most importantly he believed in the change. When we have pain/struggle/newness/and confusion in our lives we have to act as the Caterpillar- we must receive- or take hold, approve- or be okay with, and believe- or trust, that God will carry us through this incomprehensible time of metamorphosis. God doesn't hurt his children, but I believe he changes them. He wants you to be the BEST version of yourself. The best version of the caterpillar...was a butterfly. The best version of yourself might be scary- but when we receive, approve, and believe in things that we cannot comprehend, the best version of our self can shine though- letting others see our inner beauty. While reading, The Problem of Pain, by C.S. Lewis, he explores the idea that we, as God's children, have to be submissive to him "For we are only creatures: our role must be that of patient to agent, female to male, mirror to light, echo to voice. Our highest activity must be of response, not initiative. To experience God in true and not illusionary form, is therefore to experience it as our surrender to His demand, our conformity to His desire: to experience in the opposite way is, as it were, a solecism against the grammar of being." Acceptance is the hardest part of overcoming our problems. Sometimes we can "trick" ourselves into thinking that we have accepted life changes- but again until we receive, approve, and believe, cannot. We might eat our way through life, like the caterpillar, because we don't want to receive the incomprehensible, or maybe we keep seeking other things to fill us up, like the caterpillar- whatever it is we are doing is holding us back from the metamorphosis God has in store for us. In Romans 12:1 it states “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world but, be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – his good, pleasing and perfect will.” Think about this: what have you not accepted in your life- what have you had problems taking hold of, being okay with, or trusting in that hold you back from becoming the BEST version of yourself?