butterflies

I love to watch butterflies.

 








They are beautiful. Almost majestic. 

A few years ago, on an ordinary winter day in 1961, an MIT meteorologist named Edward Lorenz ran some routine experiments and found some unusual results.  

Lorenz discovered that seemingly tiny and insignificant changes in his data could produce huge differences in the final result. 

At first, Lorenz and other scientists in the field of chaos theory called this "the sensitive dependence on initial data." Fortunately, later on Lorenz used a simpler term—"the butterfly effect." 

In 1972, Lorenz presented a scientific paper entitled "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set off a Tornado in Texas?"  

According to Lorenz's theory, the butterfly's wing-flapping doesn't actually cause a tornado, but it can start a chain reaction leading to giant changes in world-wide weather patterns. In others words, even tiny, insignificant movements or actions can produce huge changes that affect millions of people. 

The Bible often describes a similar "butterfly effect" for the spiritual life. 

As we go through the gospel of John, we see this in the life of Jesus. Through his life, we see the spiritual butterfly in effect - which occurs in our lives as well - as we do small things—making a meal, visiting the sick, befriending the lonely, opening our home to a guest, praying with a friend—for "insignificant" people, which makes a huge difference in God's eyes.  

And remember this - according to Jesus, there's also a reverse butterfly effect: consistently failing to display small acts of kindness (i.e. living an unkind lifestyle) has a profound loss of opportunity in the spiritual realm. 

The choice I encourage all of us to make today? To choice to do good. You never know what the effect will be, today, tomorrow, and even months and years from now. 

Andy Andrews has written:

"Every single thing you do matters.
You have been created as one of a kind.
You have been created in order to make a difference. You have within you the power to change the world."

I encourage all of us today to "seize the opportunity" that is before us.

Just a thought for a Thursday.