One of the most popular butterflies there are is the Monarch butterfly. If you see a butterfly, most of the time it’s a Monarch. Its wings are black, orange, red and sometimes a little tan. The Monarch is a very fascinating creature. It goes through a metamorphosis that is very similar to the transformation we as humans undergo on our journey of success. There are 4 stages for the Monarch butterfly and I want to talk about them and draw a comparison to the stages and metamorphosis we go through in life.
STAGE 1: EGG
Adult butterflies lay eggs on the leaves of plants so that when the eggs hatch into caterpillars they can feed on the plants. Female butterflies lay a lot of eggs at once because not all of them survive. Butterfly eggs are very small, about the size of a pinhead. When you were born, God gave you a purpose and a gift and throughout out He gives us ideas. These ideas are eggs that will one day birth our dreams. You must appreciate the days of small beginnings and not get discouraged because they will grow into something great.
STAGE 2: CATERPILLAR (LARVA) – THE FEEDING STAGE
When butterfly eggs hatch they become caterpillars. The job of the caterpillar is to eat as much as possible because it is preparing for its next stage in life. As the caterpillar grows, it goes through another phase; it splits its skin and sheds it about 4 or 5 times. Food eaten at this time is stored and used later as an adult. Caterpillars can grow 100 times their size during this stage. Remember, the size of the egg is about the size of a pinhead. But, within several week, the caterpillar will grow up to 2 inches long. At the end of this stage, the caterpillar will shed its skin for the last time and go into the pupa stage/cocoon.
SATGE 3: PUPA/CHRYSALIS
When the caterpillar is fully grown and has stopped eating, it becomes a pupa, also called a chrysalis. It’s shaped like a little kidney bean and depending on the species, the pupa may hang under a branch, hidden in leaves or buried underground. The pupa of many moths is protected inside a cocoon of silk.
The pupa stage can last from a few weeks, a month or even longer. Some species have a pupal stage that lasts for up to two years. In this stage it may look like nothing is going on, but major changes are happening on the inside. Rapid growth takes place in this stage. They develop their legs, wings, eyes and other parts of the adult butterfly. All of the eating the caterpillar did will provide energy for the mass amount of growth in this stage.
STAGE 4: ADULT – THE REPORDUCTIVE STAGE
The adult stage is what most people think of when they think of butterflies. They look very different from the caterpillar. The caterpillar has a few tiny eyes, stubby legs and very short antennae. The butterfly has long legs, long antennae, and compound eyes. They can also fly with their wings. One interesting fact about the butterfly is that the only thing they can’t do is grow. It does all of its growing in the caterpillar stage.
My motivation to you is to seize the moment. Just as the caterpillar eats and grows in stage 2, we also must learn and grow in stage 2. Because there’s going to come a point in time when we have to execute. There’s a time to learn and there’s a time to DO. Seize the moment right now and learn everything you can and take advantage of every opportunity at your fingertips.
Don’t wait for the “right time” to DO when you’ve been stuck in neutral for so long. NOW is the right time to DO and EXECUTE. You don’t have to know all of the steps to get started, but you do have to get started in order to get the ball rolling and be successful. At this point in the game, the NEXT step is the right step.
Again, the caterpillar’s job was to eat; the adult’s job is to mate and lay eggs for the next generation of butterflies. Most adult butterflies live only one or two weeks, but some species hibernate during the winter and may live several months. Butterflies can fly two to three thousand miles. Every stage in your life has a specific purpose. There is something that you must learn at every turn in life. It may be an easy lesson; it may be a difficult lesson, but if you don’t learn it, it will always come back around. In school, you learn the lesson then take the test. But, in life sometimes you must fail the test in order to learn the lesson.
