From the desk of Steve Shultz:
I know many of you will relate to this word by Joey LeTourneau. There's much "internal" preparation in the cocoon process before they can be launched... as you'll read below. I've learned to let God complete the good work - each step is necessary.
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Joey LeTourneau:
Celebrating the Cocoon and Preparing for Launch
...to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us... Ephesians 3:19-20
So many of us, my family and I included, are in a season with needs of breakthrough. We see the light of God's calling and continue to persevere with the promises. Inch by inch, day by day, we can keep taking new ground and believe for all that is ahead. But, are we slowly scooting away from a place we should be celebrating? Are we missing our "breakout" while striving for "breakthrough"? We can be striving, scooting caterpillars, or we can be transformed butterflies soaring from a new peace and perspective. The question rests with us each, and the Creator asks us, "Will you celebrate the cocoon?"
The Cocoon
To outward appearances, the cocoon can look like a lonely place. In times when we are desperately trying to move forward, and already going slower than we would like, it is difficult to let go and surrender our control for what looks like complete stillness. The cocoon can look like a wilderness, but in that case, it's a wilderness of oneness where much more is accomplished than those moments first reveal.
Look at John at Patmos. Being sent all alone to a desert island must have felt like punishment. This is the same John who was referred to as "the disciple whom Jesus loved." The same John who took his opportunity to lay his head upon Jesus' chest, a moment that always provokes my desire. But, as much as Patmos must have looked like a lonely wilderness, it was actually an invitation to what happens in the cocoon. God was jealous for John, and swept him away out of love to press him to His heart and reveal the secrets usually reserved for a special friend (see John 15:15). Looking back, notice how we study and marvel at the wings of the book of Revelation that came out of that time in the cocoon.
I grew up with someone in our extended family that everyone simply called "Papa." He had a special knack with babies, able to grab them out of any circumstance, sweep them up in between his loving arms and his chest, and invite them into "The Papa Tuck." Every time, the baby would be quickly immersed in deep, necessary rest. "The Papa Tuck" resembles the cocoon, crawling up into Papa God's arms, letting go of everything else, and just enjoying His heartbeat and embrace, knowing that those very moments are more powerful and more productive than anything else we could do. We could keep striving like the caterpillar and inch forward little by little, maybe even take another scoot toward breakthrough, or we can celebrate such closeness with our Creator tucked into the living peace that births impossible fruit.
The Caterpillar
Cease striving, and know that I am God. Psalm 46:10
The caterpillar often finds itself striving for significance or looking for breakthrough. We won't find breakthrough as a caterpillar, as such would be a substandard blessing and breakthrough. We are not called to be successful or blessed caterpillars, we are called to be new creatures: butterflies. For every caterpillar there comes a season where they must realize that their dreams and their unique calling cannot be lived out apart from the cocoon.
The Butterfly
Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new. 2 Corinthians 5:17
The butterfly shows us unprecedented breakthrough. It is a new creation! It does not measure up to other butterflies, it does not strive, and each one has its own unique wings. Every butterfly's wings are different shapes, different colors and new patterns, a reflection of God's own unique imprint on each one from within the cocoon.
Joseph
Joseph was the ultimate caterpillar turned butterfly. He scooted around forecasting his dreams of wings until he found himself deep in a cocoon of a prison. But it was that prison that brought his dreams to reality. The dream-coat was but a representation of the favor and calling of God, while its true power and reality was Joseph's wings developing inside. Joseph held onto his dream with vigor, but transformed in his cocoon within the prison of the palace. Just because you see the prison around you, doesn't mean you're not already in the palace. We must not leave the palace of our calling while trying to escape our prison. However unlikely it may seem, and whatever our outward version of a cocoon may be, God often surprises us with how He brings forth our dreams.
Prepare For Launch
It's from the cocoon that we are launched, perhaps when we least expect it, when we are caught simply enjoying God in the wilderness of oneness that He has swept us away to. According to Joseph's dream, he was waiting for the familiar, his family, to come and promote him into his breakthrough. But God is a Father who loves to surprise His children, who always does us at least one better than we can think or imagine. Joseph had to surrender to his cocoon and let God surprise Him with greater wings than even he could hope or dream.
With such a good Father, surrender always equals the best kind of surprises! What, or Whom, is inside you and waiting to breakout? For me, my breakthrough begins when I crawl up in God's lap and enter His "Papa Tuck." We usually focus on the caterpillar or the butterfly, but often what is most powerful is when we learn to celebrate what's in between!
Joey LeTourneau
M.A.R.K. 10:14 Family/Heavenly Hope Ministries
Email: joey.letourneau@gmail.com
Joey LeTourneau, his wife Destiny, and their four daughters live near Denver, Colorado. They travel extensively, empowering the Body of Christ to draw near to their First Love and live out the life-giving testimony of Jesus to the world around them. They desire to see the Father's heart fully revealed to the world, and through such see a multiplication of life so abundant the whole world will know the true nature of our Father! Joey has authored two books, Revolutionary Freedom, and his new release, The Life Giver
