Marriner’s Moment: Celebrating God’s Grace, Mercy and Love – Pt. 2

By Pastor Melvin O. Marriner
Grove Church

While there is nothing magical about making resolutions at the start of a new year, we can and should set personal goals for ourselves. For some of us, the New Year simply provides us with a time to reflect, re-evaluate, re-define or recommit ourselves to goals we set for the year. Most of us understand that we are imperfect beings ‘under construction’ who aspire to become better and do better, in an effort to become somewhat worthy of the grace, mercy and love that God gives.

At Grove Church, this year we’ve adopted the theme of “Emerging” in an effort to become better and more deserving. But, what exactly does that mean? The definition of emerging is ‘appearing; coming out of an experience, condition, or situation, especially a difficult one’. A good analogy is the butterfly that emerges from a caterpillar or chrysalis (a moth or butterfly pupa that is enclosed in a hardened protective case).

Many of us have heard some version of what occurs when a butterfly emerges prematurely from its cocoon. One account relates that a butterfly struggled so hard to get out of its cocoon that someone helped it along by making the hole bigger. This well-intended act of kindness resulted in the butterfly emerging prematurely; its body was swollen and its wings were shriveled. The butterfly never fully matured and ended up spending its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings, without ever being able to fly.

You see, a butterfly is SUPPOSED to emerge out of the cocoon on its own. The struggle to get through the tiny opening of the cocoon serves a purpose; it pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. Without the struggle, the butterfly’s wings never develop fully to allow it to fly. Will you emerge this year to fully develop into your God-given purpose?
”Peace and power

© Dr. Melvin O. Marriner,
Grove Church
February 2017