“To live is to be slowly born.”


Antoine de Saint-Exupery

Sunflower Seeds

Celebrating Everyday Spirituality

Caterpillar Steps

What are the next best steps for any group whether the universal Church, a government meeting, a town hall, a parent-teacher gathering, a trustees meeting, or a family discussion? I have no degree in human relations or psychology, but I have observed the caterpillar. The caterpillar is unpretentious. It moves forward slowly with care, balancing on a leaf or navigating the ground. Its eating is slow but selective. It minds its own business. It realizes it has only a few weeks before metamorphosis sets in. Who wants that? Too dark and confining! Does it know anything about resurrection as a beautiful butterfly? Somehow the caterpillar brain says, “Take the next step.”  So Mr. Caterpillar takes the next step to go beyond what is known, to stretch to ____? Meanwhile, millions of other caterpillars—some who don’t pronounce the R in “caterpillar” and many who do—similarly agonize: “Shall I take the next step?“ All appendages move together. Every leg together. Isn’t that the best way to move? Perhaps all groups should take the caterpillar as their model.

2 Responses

  1. I guess I don’t pronounce the “r.”
    I wonder what the next step will be as we meet in Columbus and as our six-year cycle comes to a close,

  2. Wonderful to keep in mind the continuous steps to transformation!
    Like Jesus, you teach by looking at nature!

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