Acorns and Caterpillars

We are children of Heavenly Father; His spirit offspring, born with the potential to become like Him. As we grow and progress in mortality and in the Eternities, we can eventually become as wise, as good, and even as powerful as He is, but sometimes I doubt that. Sometimes I can hardly believe that a sinful, fallen human being like me could ever grow so much as to become like God.  That kind of transformation could only be of the miraculous sort, yet, similar transformations happen in nature all the time.

Acorns are nothing like oak trees. Acorns are small and weak. Oak trees are huge and strong. Acorns are easily kicked and thrown around. Oak trees are firmly rooted and not going anywhere. Oak trees offer shade and shelter to many creatures for generations. All an acorn can offer is a meal for one creature once. An acorn is downright pitiful compared to an oak tree, yet after centuries of growth and maturity, an acorn can become an oak tree and produce acorns of its own.

A better-known and more popular example is that of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. Caterpillars are fat and wormy, but butterflies are light and thin. Caterpillars are usually plain colors, like brown or green, but butterflies are beautifully colorful. Butterflies can fly anywhere they want to go, whereas caterpillars can't even jump. A caterpillar is nothing like a butterfly, but through a miraculous process called metamorphosis, it can become one.

There are several enormous differences between me and God. When I think about those differences, I often get discouraged and feel that I'll never be able to change enough to become like Heavenly Father, and maybe I'm partly right about that. Maybe I can't grow and progress enough on my own to ever become like Heavenly Father, but through a miraculous process called a "mighty change of heart," I can be changed into a more pure, more holy person than I am now. I still have to help the process along as much as I can through repentance and trying to improve, but thankfully, I don't have to do it alone.

The transformations of an acorn to an oak tree or from a caterpillar to a butterfly are miraculous ones, but God works such miracles on a regular basis. Perhaps He can also work such a miracle in me.