With my book pending arrival, thought I would share little snippets with you. Check out the snippets and activity below! www.mkt.com/amina-s-mcintyre
Day 2
THE BUTTERFLY SEASON: HOW FIRM A FOUNDATION
“In every condition, in
sickness, in health;
In poverty’s vale, or abounding
in wealth;
At home and abroad, on the
land, on the sea,
As thy days may demand, shall
thy strength ever be.”
~ from How Firm a Foundation by John Rippon
Even wonder how a giant gets big or how a celebrity got so
famous? It often seems like
overnight there they were, unable to be overlooked for that thing they did. But
the majority will tell you that they had to start somewhere. Silas House,
author of The Hurting Part and other
books, once said to a group of budding writers that it took him 8 years to
become an overnight sensation. Before that, there were many drafts and
manuscripts and rejections. His
entire journey started from a simple place: by writing the first word.
The strength comes in that starting place. A butterfly’s egg is the foundation and
everything that happens to it helps to shape its experiences. On the outside is
a shell hard enough to withstand any climate. If the butterfly lays the egg in the wintertime, they will
not hatch until the spring comes.
The shell also has a coat of glue that allows it to stick to the leaf
and not be removed once it is planted, firmly.
When we are walking in our calling, that overnight celebrity
status seems like a farfetched idea at first. Whether we make an impression on our job, in children’s
lives or in our churches, we often start with the tiniest idea. We protect it, not worrying about the
competition and what naysayers say.
If the idea comes during a season where it can not be cultivated to grow
-- maybe we are not able to write that full novel at the moment -- we will put
it away for a spring day. But more than anything else, we stick to that call,
because deep within it is the life source that will move us to our maximum
potential.
This idea will get
tested, pushed, molded, shifted out of the way and criticized. Always remember,
the foundation is there for a reason - everything we learned there will carry
us through. “That one is like a
man building a house, who dug deeply and laid the foundation on rock; when a
flood arose, the river burst against that house but could not shake it, because
it had been well built” (Luke 6:48).
If we remember the strength of the egg, the humbleness of the beginning,
handling a little recognition will not alter the core, for the glue will stick
us to the course.
Consider identifying the whisper of your call and jot it
down. Protect those little eggs of life budding within you, making sure the you
can build a strong foundation to handle whatever it brings to you.
