How a caterpillar saved my marriage

I was mad.  Really mad. I won’t share the dastardly deeds that made me angry. But as I got into bed beside my sleeping husband that night I cried out in my spirit:

“I know I’m not supposed to let the sun go down on my anger!  I know I’m supposed to forgive, but HOW can I forgive this man? How can I ever love him again?”

I wrestled, silently in agony for nearly 20 minutes, praying for an answer. I must have almost fallen asleep when I was startled back into consciousness by a striking vision of a brilliant, beautiful caterpillar on a leaf.

“WHY, LORD?” I asked, silently, “Why a caterpillar? What are you trying to tell me? What does a CATERPILLAR have to do with my husband?”

Then as suddenly as I had envisioned it, I knew.

Oh my gosh! He’s still a caterpillar!

Could I hate a caterpillar for not being a butterfly – yet?

I considered the analogy.

He couldn’t help it.

“I can love a caterpillar” I resigned, and forgave him for being one. After all, I was probably a caterpillar, too, and didn’t realize it.

It wasn’t the last time I was hurt or offended. But when I’d remember he was still a caterpillar, I could go on.

That was a long time ago, and we did make it through, till the day he passed on, after 39 years of marriage.

Any caterpillars in YOUR life?

Blessings,

Ruth