Hi how are you all today? I am well and have had a busy weekend at two conferences. One was a ladies conference which was amazing. The other one was a writers conference which gave me opportunity not just for learning but also for networking. To say I was tired at the end was an understatement but it was a good tired.
When I was asking God what to write this weeks blog on- He told me the butterfly effect. When I googled it, I was surprised that there is such a thing which I will get into shortly.
But first, I had a prophecy over myself many years ago that I was like a butterfly in church. I just flit from one person to the next. What is interesting though is that when a butterfly is going from flower to flower they are actually pollinating it much like a bee does. So if you are like me, we are actually depositing something in that persons life to help them grow.
Now onto the butterfly effect. It is a bit different from the above but I think it all ties together. So what is it? It is a term explained originally by meteorologist Edward Norton Lorenz that describes how a tiny change like a butterfly flapping its wings can cause huge consequences elsewhere.
This is similar to us when we make choices. The Bible tells us in Deuteronomy 30:19 in the Message Bible:
I call Heaven and Earth to witness against you today: I place before you Life and Death, Blessing and Curse. Choose life so that you and your children will live.
When we choose life, blessing will follow. When we choose death, cursing will follow.
So how do we choose? Proverbs 18:21 in the Message Bible tells us. It states:
21 Words kill, words give life;
they’re either poison or fruit—you choose
This is how we choose life- we choose what words to speak. Most people think our words are random. But they are the result of our thinking process and what’s already in our heart.
So let’s look at an example in the Bible. The best one is Ruth. She was married to an Israelite whose parents had come into the nation of Moab from Israel as there was a famine there. In due course, Ruth’s husband died, her brother in law and father also died. The three ladies were left on their own.
Her mother in law wanted to go back to Israel and both her daughters in law then had a choice to make. If they went with her, then who knows when they would get married again or if they would be provided for? But if they stayed, they would miss their family. It was a difficult choice for both girls to make. Naomi, the mother in law didn’t make it easy. She set out a choice for them which is found in Ruth 1: 11-13 and in the Message Bible, it states:
11-13 But Naomi was firm: “Go back, my dear daughters. Why would you come with me? Do you suppose I still have sons in my womb who can become your future husbands? Go back, dear daughters—on your way, please! I’m too old to get a husband. Why, even if I said, ‘There’s still hope!’ and this very night got a man and had sons, can you imagine being satisfied to wait until they were grown? Would you wait that long to get married again? No, dear daughters; this is a bitter pill for me to swallow—more bitter for me than for you. God has dealt me a hard blow.”
Naomi was literally telling them that coming with her was a bad idea. Orpah decided to go back to Moab but Ruth made the choice to stay. That decision of yes had far reaching consequences. She didn’t know that by making that difficult decision that in Israel she would get married, become the great grandmother of King David and be in the lineage of Jesus.
We look back on her yes and can see the blessings but she made the decision not knowing the consequences.
Each decision we make will have consequences but may affect generations to come. We need to be wise in our yes or no decisions.
We, however, have Someone Ruth never had. We have the Holy Spirit Who is our helper, guide and teacher.
So if you are about to make a decision, make sure you pray and have peace about it. The butterfly effect may seem like only a theory but for a Christian it can be life-changing.
Bless you and keep living the life God intended for you.
Karen
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