H-O-P-E

The year came and went quietly. Well, not really came quietly, since it brought about with it so much BANG!, but more so of ending on a very quiet note, almost silent.

2010 was the year of DIVINE ACCELERATION as one of the pastors said in one of the Sunday services.

It was a year of immense growth on different levels, for different people, me included.

But maybe one thing that people don't normally associate with growth, is the pain that comes along with it.

I would imagine how painful it must be for a caterpillar to turn into a butterfly. After all, it's been a caterpillar practically its entire life. I wonder if it ever knew what was coming. I mean, it would have been just an ordinary day of going about the leaves, eating and then sleeping after. And then all of a sudden, the caterpillar awakes in this sac of sorts. Probably feeling trapped and all, with all kinds of fear swimming in its thoughts. But then after some time of struggle, it is able to get out. I'm pretty sure the caterpillar wasn't surprised to see itself once it got out of that cocoon. I am thinking whether the caterpillar knows that what happened was something that needed to happen; that it was a necessary struggle. Because if it didn't happen then the caterpillar would forever be just crawling among the leaves, destroying leaves because of its innate needs for survival, instead of being a life-dispenser of pollen, giving flowers the chance to bloom.

As much as I would want to be a butterfly, I don't think i'm there yet. For the most part of 2010, I think I was still that caterpillar, trapped inside that cocoon. Wondering why i'm here and whether this is the end of me. But maybe one difference between me and that caterpillar, is that I know what happens next for me. I know what's in store. I may not know exactly what is up ahead for me, but I am hopeful.

"And hope does not disappoint us, because God has poured out His love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom He has given us." - Romans 5:5

So why do I worry?

Why do I freak out?

God knows what I need.

You know what I need.