arts & culture
“I
HOPEEMERGES
n the last months of her life, Marlene Payne was in and out of the hospital. In a time when many things were hard, Payne found a surprising source of comfort. The chrysalides (cocoons) of monarch butterflies, raised by a neighbor in Berea, Kentucky went in and out of the hospital with her. Her daughter, Deborah Payne, said they were significant companions on her mother’s journey.
in challenging and painful ways. The monarch chrysalis reminds people that this transformation will bring new life, or entry into the wider life.”
Even healthy people are awed by seeing a monarch butterfly emerge from its shell after days of apparent stillness. When it is time, the pearlescent green chrysalis bejeweled with gold, turns transparent, revealing glimpses of the orange and black butterfly inside. When “The experience of watching a butterfly emerge from the husk cracks open, the butterfly emerges all at once, its chrysalis was tremendously transformative for my but is not yet ready to fly. Its wings are crinkly and its mother, particularly as she spent hours observing it from body has swollen; it must pump fluid from its torso to her hospital bed,” said Payne. “In a person’s journey form the wings for flight. For those transitory minutes, with cancer, his or her body starts to transform, often it is completely vulnerable. SPRING / SUMMER 2019 | christianapp.org/MtSpiritGive
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