The Blue Butterfly

"Nora ... Patience just died." It took a moment for my mind to absorb the words I had just heard from my brother through the phone. It was after midnight, I was barely awake, and I had just received a phone call that nobody ever wants to get.

"What?!!," I cried as the words broke through. "Our little sister is dead?"

I didn't even take the time to ask what happened, so the call was brief. My heart started racing as my adrenaline kicked into gear. I shook my husband awake and quickly told him what happened, informing him that I was leaving to go to my hometown which was an hour away. He would stay home with our two boys - 14 and 10. I could have taken the time to pack up the family and get us all on the road, but I felt an urgency to get there.

I drove as fast as I could toward my mother's house, weeping in unbelief that this could be happening. Nothing so tragic had ever happened in our family since I had been born into it forty-four years prior. We'd had our challenges, but this was devastating.

By the time I arrived home, her body had been placed in the morgue; so I couldn't see her. My older sister and I were so desperate in those moments that we drove to the morgue, laid out in the parking lot, and begged God to give her back to us. But it was too late.

When I drove back to my mother's home I was met with a house full of people in shock and crying. There was nothing left to say and nothing left to do except try our best to comfort one another.

But in the days following, I began to notice some things. I found out that my brother-in-law had gone to the funeral home and had picked out a casket with a light blue lining, and that my sister would be dressed in a royal blue gown that she had recently had made for an event she and her husband had attended.

I was back at my house getting my family prepared to go to the funeral the following weekend when I realized I had a dress with a dark blue and light blue pattern that I had purchased for Easter. I had also purchased a butterfly pin with dark blue and light blue wings to secure the low-cut neckline.

Then God began to talk to me about butterflies. He talked about metamorphosis and the beauty of new life. He shared that blue is the color of heaven. It was God's way of telling us that she was with Him.

I was inspired to give my blue butterfly pin to my sister's 11-year-old daughter. She was not handling her mother's death well, and the Lord wanted to get a message to her through butterflies. I also bought butterfly pins for my sister's best friends and for my other sister and my sisters-in-law as a symbol of love and support for our niece. Then I began to share the inspiration of the butterfly.

Also, some amazing things were happening during this difficult time. Someone purchased a dress for my niece to wear to the funeral that was blue with butterflies on it. It was from someone who could not have known about the blue butterfly message. Then, after the funeral and repast were over, I found a gift bag that had been left for me by an aunt who was unable to attend the funeral. It was a wind chime with a blue butterfly on top. I was absolutely amazed! I told everyone about it and brought it to my sister's home to hang above her front door. It was a reminder to her husband and children that her spirit was with them. God speaks clearly when we are listening.

It was especially important for my niece because she could not even go into the funeral parlor during the wake. Family members had to force her to take one last look at her mother before they closed the casket. But I knew that even though she couldn't talk about her mother right then; she would be able to talk about butterflies and be encouraged one day that her mother was not gone, but she had risen to a new life.

As summer approached we bought butterfly barrettes and ribbons and pencils and stickers and anything we could find that had a butterfly imprint. My niece had to go to summer school because, obviously, she was not in the right frame of mind to finish well in school that year. When her summer school teacher heard the story, she bought my niece a beautiful mahogany wooden box to hold all her butterfly treasures.

As for my niece, I hope the blue butterfly provided some measure of healing to her heart.

Today my sister's family is doing fine. Her husband married a wonderful woman 7 years after her death. They are doing very well. The children are adults who are growing and living their own lives.