Original. 9x12.

Ink + acrylic + latex + oil stick.

Have you ever watched a butterfly fly — especially the big ones with the giant wings? They move so chaotically. Up, down, sideways a bit, up up, down, up. All of that beauty — all of that struggle that it took to change from a caterpillar into a butterfly, and yet they end up with this chaotic flight pattern. You’d think they’d fly in a straight line.

Doesn’t that feel a bit like us? All of that struggle to grow into something, to mature and take all that we’ve learned into the future — and yet, we often appear to move through life more chaotically as life moves forward. It feels harder and harder to walk in a straight line on a clear path. Life just doesn’t seem to be so predictable.

But aren’t butterflies gorgeous to watch? No one (except for me with my random thoughts) looks at a butterfly and thinks, “Fly straight!” We all simply marvel at their beauty. Maybe there’s a lesson for us in there. Maybe there’s a grace to see that as we struggle and grow through life, that beauty isn’t found in a perfect ending. It’s seeing how all of those battle wounds and scars, so to speak, have made us into who we’re meant to be. It’s taking all that seems broken and finding joy and satisfaction in its lessons. It’s less about a perfect pattern and more about finding beauty in the seemingly broken and resting in the assurance that everything that’s brought us to where we are makes our flight patterns more beautiful. And maybe, just maybe, it helps us to see all of those around us in the same way.