"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up,that everyone who believes may have eternal life in him.” John 3: 14-15
"Mother, see what I found in the library just now!" exclaimed Annie as she approached her mother, carrying a large, gauzy-winged moth on her finger. "Where did it come from? and how did it get in there?"
"Call Herbert and come with me, and I'll finish the story I began to tell you some days ago." said the mother, as she went to the library and took down the cocoon from the corner in which it had been hanging.
"Now, children, I told you that a caterpillar spun this cocoon last fall, shutting itself up inside. Then it went to sleep, or apparently died. It has lain in this little casket, as we might call it, all these months - sometimes covered with the snow, sometimes rocked by the cold winds and beating rains.
"It was not dead, however. All this time that it was apparently lifeless, there was a change taking place in its body.
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The caterpillar.
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"In order that you may get an idea of how it looked last fall we shall study this picture briefly. This is the picture of a caterpillar that belongs to the Sphinx family, which usually burrow into the ground and spin their cocoons, but it is very much like the one that spun this cocoon. First we notice that the body is divided into many sections. Beneath those, Just behind the head, we see six legs (three on each side) which look somewhat like claws. These are called the true legs. Besides these we see ten short, thick legs (five on each side), which are called prolegs. It has sixteen legs in all.
"Now, as we look at this beautiful moth we can not see much resemblance between it and an ugly caterpillar. Nevertheless, it was just such a creature last fall. Look at this old cocoon, and you will see in one end an opening, out of which it crawled a few hours ago. When it first came out, its moist wings were folded close to its body. It has only six legs, and they are joined to the thorax, the part of the body closest the head. These legs correspond to the true legs of the caterpillar. The wings and antenne have developed. It has no mouth now; while it was a caterpillar it ate almost continually, but now it will eat no more. It can not live very many days.
"Look at the beautifully colored wings. I am sure that you will agree that the moth is much more beautiful now than it was in the caterpillar stage of development.
"God, who made the laws of nature that brought about the change in the life of a caterpillar, changing it to a beautiful moth, has made also a law by which to change our bodies into a more beautiful and glorified state. Although we may fall asleep and our bodies may lie in the grave for years, he has promised to bring us out some day with immortal bodies‚ bodies that will never die.
"All dead people will be raised from their graves never to die again; but if we wish to be raised with glorified bodies, bodies just like Jesus' own glorious body, we must make some preparation in this life. You will remember that the caterpillar prepared the cocoon while the days were still warm and bright and before it went to sleep.
"While we live in this world, we must build a character that will be pleasing to God. We can not do this ourselves, but if we yield ourselves to God, he will help us. Don't think you are too young to begin this character-building. Every act of your life is making an impression upon your character, which is really yourself. Wrong acts weaken your character. I'm sure you desire to build a strong and noble character so that you will be like Jesus in eternity; so ask Jesus to help you to do only those things that are right.'' Grace Graham.
