From our days in Iowa, there is a photo of me with a butterfly, with the title “Bekah’s Butterfly”. Interestingly enough, this little creature I found while walking around the lake at our exquisite campsite. I took a walk, after dinner that night. I tend to be a solitary person, and often have difficulty assimilating fully into a group setting. This manifests itself often in me wandering off by myself. Despite the definite atmosphere of community and fellowship among the Bike Movement members, it took me quite a bit of time to feel a part of this group. I am not necessarily an extremely extroverted person, and jumping into the timeline in the middle of the trip, it made things all that more difficult for me to feel an important member of this team.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I have enjoyed my time with Bike Movement immensely, and I recognize the fact that my own personality, and the issues I was dealing with when I arrived in Nebraska made it all that more difficult for me to jump right in the current and keep moving with it. But, back to the butterfly… As I walked around the lake with the grass cool under my bare feet, I could hear the sounds of laughter and family life from our campsite on the hill. I noticed a movement in the grass which turned out to be a butterfly. The butterfly climbed onto my finger when I bent down to it, and ended up climbing up my arm, my hair, over my ear, and onto my white hat. It appeared to be slightly injured, an antennae was deformed. It clung to my hat despite a steady breeze and I walked all the way back to the campsite with it traveling with me. Eventually, this lovely creature was strong enough to fly off, but for the time it was with me, it gave me inspiration and hope.

Butterflies have always given me a sense of hope, of continuation, new life, and therefore have been a comfort. As if God is reminding me of His existence, and giving me encouragement. This one in particular manifested those thoughts to me, and was a welcome sign.

As I reflect on my past ten days with Bike Movement and on that particular incident with the butterfly, I think that an analogy of this journey can be drawn from it. I was emotionally wounded, and the butterfly was physically wounded. Alone, we both would have survived, but the going would be difficult and unsure. Together, we drew strength from each other, and the journey was made that much sweeter by doing it together. So it is with Bike Movement and with the larger church. Each of us have the capability and the power to keep moving on this life’s journey on our own. Each biker has the physical power to journey on their own. Alone, however, the journey is much more strenuous, will take longer, and is not as enriching as when we go together. We give each other the strength and hope to keep going and to find meaning in the travel. Church was created so that each Christian would not need to go on the journey totally alone. We are meant to fellowship, to create relationships, and to those contacts to draw the strength, hope, inspiration, and wisdom we need to finish out this race. Often along this trail, we have heard the importance of feeling connected, of being in community with each other. This is what church should be and what our group has sought to create within ourselves. As I journey on tomorrow, I will remember the butterfly and the lessons taught by traveling together.~Bekah

Posted by Bekah Moyer

This entry was posted on Monday, August 14th, 2006 at 3:39 am and is filed under Trip06. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.