Butterfly Wisdom

Bible Reading: Matthew 5:16; 1 Peter 3:3-4

“Look!” said Mom. Isabel’s eyes followed her mother’s pointing finger. Her blue eyes sparkled as she spotted a striking orange and black butterfly flitting daintily from flower to flower.

“He’s so pretty!” Isabel exclaimed. “Let’s watch and see where he goes.” Mom nodded, and they followed the butterfly’s progress through Grandma’s garden.

“Look at those red flowers,” said Isabel a moment later. “They’re the prettiest flowers in the garden. That butterfly will like them.” She looked around. “Where did he go? I don’t see him anymore.”

Mom’s eyes searched the area. Then she pointed toward a small cluster of weeds just below the red flowers. “He’s there.”

“On those weeds?” asked Isabel. “Oh yeah, I see him. I wonder why he’s bothering with weeds when there are so many pretty flowers.”

Mom smiled. “That’s one wise little butterfly. He knows that the prettiest flowers aren’t always the ones with the sweetest nectar.”

“You mean those tiny purple flowers on the weeds taste sweeter to the butterfly than the big red ones?” asked Isabel.

Mom nodded. “It seems that they do.”

Isabel frowned. “How odd!”

“We should be as wise as that butterfly,” Mom said. “Sometimes, we get carried away by the way people look or how they dress. We forget that real sweetness and beauty comes from the heart—the kind of person we are on the inside.”

Isabel thought about that. “So it doesn’t matter how we look?”

Mom laughed. “I didn’t say that. We should take care of ourselves and do our best to look nice. But when we focus more on our outer appearance than we do on the way we treat others, that’s not good. We need to remember that our true beauty comes from Jesus. He has given us new, beautiful hearts, and that means we can show His love to others through our attitudes and actions.”

“And letting people see the beauty He’s given us on the inside is more important than what we look like, isn’t it?” said Isabel.

“It sure is,” said Mom. “Let’s remember that how we are on the inside is what’s important in God’s sight and trust Him to help us show others how He has made us beautiful.”

-Tanya Ferdinandusz

How About You?

What kind of person are you? It’s natural to want to look good and wear nice clothes, but remember that in God’s eyes real beauty is on the inside. Real beauty is found in Jesus and the love He has put in your heart. If you are kind and gentle and loving in how you treat others, you are showing the kind of beauty that God loves to see—the beauty of Jesus.

Today’s Key Verse:
1 Peter 3:3-4 Your beauty…should be that of your inner self, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight. (NIV)

Today’s Key Thought:

Show your inner beauty