What happened to my wings? Why was I not flying in my life like God designed me to? These are the questions I asked God when He started restoring my life to its True Colours. He showed me that my wings were dull and crumpled like a piece of paper and that He wanted to straighten out my wings in His love. The wings represented who I was, my personality and my character, my “colours” so-to-speak. God said they were beautiful and meant to shine like the colours of a rainbow. (Like in the Phil Colin’s song, True Colours: “I see your true colours and they are beautiful… like a rainbow.”) Why was I not shining?
The wings of a butterfly are fragile, but essential to the flight of a butterfly. Butterflies are designed to fly, just like we are designed to fulfil God’s purpose for our lives. So fragile are they, that as the wings unfurl out of the cocoon, there is a critical moment when the blood has to be pumped into the wings. If anything goes wrong during this time period, the wings of the butterfly are damaged and in some cases leads to death. Jesus, like the blood, energizes and enables the wings to fly.
In the course of life and doing life, you and I both know that there is much that can happen to those wings that would make us not fly like we were designed to.
God showed me four things that had happened to my wings which I will share today:
- Wings are Dirty. This is when dust clings to them, or pollen etc. The butterfly is weighed down and it affects the ability to fly. Wings become heavy, burdensome and flying is difficult. Sin is like dirt, it attached itself to our lives: 1) we do not confess a sin, 2)we do not repent and 3) we nurse a little pet sin which attached itself to our life. Eventually there is so much dirt, we just don’t fly anymore. We even forget the colour of our wings because we cannot even see it. We forget who we really are. Unless the dirt is dealt with, cleaned off, we cannot move on.
- Wings are Torn. A portion of the wing is torn, it looks like it cannot heal or be repaired. As a result, we are a bit lopsided, we don’t fly well, flying takes real effort and energy, so we don’t do too much of it. How did this happen? Sometimes in life, through no fault of our own, the sin of others affects our lives. Sometimes someone purposely tears our wings, to hurt us. At other times, something has happened that is not directly related to us, but because we are associated or linked to others through relationships, the consequences of another’s sin may affect our lives too. E.g. we are married to the person who has an affair, is an alcoholic, financial debt, sexually or verbally abuses, etc. The torn wing, cannot be repaired by ourselves, it has to go to the original creator of the wing, the Lord, who can heal those of us who are torn.
- Wings are Crumpled, or creased. Someone or something in your life has systematically influenced and pushed you in such a way that you are no longer yourself, you no longer recognise yourself, you don’t know what your true design or colours are anymore. Their influence has bent you out of shape, bent your life out of shape. Alternatively, you have compromised and changed yourself in order to fit into the designs of others and as a result, you are not even sure who you are anymore. Your wings are no longer their original design, you have lost purpose to your life, life does not work so well anymore, you are not sure who you are and what you are supposed to do. Your wings need to be straightened out by the One who knows their original design.
- Wings are paralysed. Butterflies cannot fly in the early morning because the ambient temperature is not high enough for their wings to function. There is no supply of energy, no sunlight to warm your wings. They don’t fly until the sun has warmed them. We don’t fly when we don’t
get enough of the Son of God. We have settled for less than intimacy with God, and as a result no longer function in the sunlight of his love.
What is the state of your wings?
If you had to describe your wings to God, how would you describe them? God is more than able to clean, repair, straighten and energise our lives if we come with our broken wings to Him.
Step into His Presence today and be honest with Him about the state of your wings.
Lord, I am bringing myself to You today. Show me, what is wrong with me that I am not experiencing a full life with You. Help me to recognise what has happened to me, and why I need your touch in my life. Show me what I need to bring to You so that You can heal my wings and I can fly once more. Thank you that I know that You are working to restore my life to new again. You will make it beautiful once more.
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