There's a Butterfly on my Shoulder

I've had a butterfly tattoo on my shoulder since 2006... I got in in part as way to rebel against the religous people in my life at the time that were telling me I wasn't good enough, and in part to remind myself that God created me perfectly and I was good enough.  I know that a butterfly tattoo is the stereotypical ink that girly girls get because "they're pretty."  But I specifically chose a butterfly as a symbol.  

Butterflies are the best illustration of what Jesus does for us..now and eternally.  One day you are trudging along in the dirt on your belly as a lowly catapillar.. then you take a nice refreshing rest.. and you wake up a beautiful butterfly.. full of color and able to fly.  The comparison is sort of obvious when you think of the ressurrection..in Heaven we will all take on a new amazing form... but the illustration is true now as well. Every day, that we choose to give God control He molds us, changes us, transforms us... we can be butterflies on earth!

When I went to get my tattoo, which was surprisingly not as painful as I had planned on it being, I was going through a difficult time in my life.  I was in a place where there was so much pressure on me to be someone I wasn't and no matter how hard I tried to be the person people were telling me to be, my efforts were never good enough.  I became pretty depressed, and hopeless.... If I had been a butterfly before that, I allowed these people to rip off my wings and shove me back down face first into the mud.  Eventually I remembered that God loves me and has a plan for me and I began trusting Him in the bad situation...I made my way out of the cocoon and got my butterfly wings back!   So I marched myself down to the tattoo shop and had my wings inked on my shoulder to always be a reminder that I don't belong in the mud, but in the air.


So this spring when you you catch a glimpse of a fluttery little butterfly... remember that God has a set of those lovely little wings for you too :)

  Posted by: Devyn Lundy