Be Intentional

Why “like black butterflies”?

Over the 2011 holidays, I sat at a kitchen table with my siblings trying to decide on a new blog title. We tossed around different combinations of words that were related to what I wanted to write about and what kind of message I wanted to convey. One of them said, “black butterfly,” in reference to this song by Deniece Williams:

Morning light, silken dream to flight
As the darkness gave way to dawn
You’ve survived, now your moment has arrived
Now your dream has finally been born

Chorus:
Black Butterfly, sailed across the waters
tell your sons and daughters
what the struggle brings
Black Butterfly, set the skies on fire
rise up even higher
so the ageless winds of time can catch your wings

While you slept, the promise was unkept
But your faith was as sure as the stars
Now you’re free, and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are

Let the current lift your heart and send it soaring
Write the timeless message clear across the sky
So that all of can read it and remember when we need it
That a dream conceived in truth can never die
Butterfly

Cause now that you’re free and the world has come to see
Just how proud and beautiful you are

Butterflies are also deeply symbolic.

Symbolizing transformation, their entire lives change within about a month to something completely unrecognizable from where they began. They also are associated with our souls and symbolize faith:

This unwavering acceptance of her metamorphosis is also symbolic of faith. Here the butterfly beckons us to keep our faith as we undergo transitions in our lives. She understands that our toiling, fretting and anger are useless against the turning tides of nature – she asks us to recognize the same

---

Hence, the desire to be like a black butterfly

Like a butterfly, moving through stages,
Metamorphose.
Search for home inside self.
Emerge anew.