36 Reasons Why The Butterfly Is A Great Symbol For Fibromyalgia

Posted on December 7, 2015 by Troy Wagstaff

36 Reasons Why The Butterfly Is A Great Symbol For Fibromyalgia

For as long as I can remember, the butterfly has been the symbol of Fibromyalgia.

Some say the symbolism of the butterfly for fibromyalgia is because a touch as gentle and soft as the fluttering of a butterflies wing can cause severe pain to a fibro champion.

For parents with fibromyalgia, the gentle soft touch of a baby or a young child is likened to the soft flutter of a butterflies wing and that same loving touch from a baby or child can cause great pain to a parent thus afflicted. That sounds like a good reason to use the butterfly for a fibro symbol. However, there are many other reasons why the butterfly is a great symbol for fibromyalgia.

Butterfly Life Cycle – Four Stages Of Transformation:

(1) Laying of the egg. (2) The egg grows into a caterpillar. As the caterpillar grows it sheds it’s skin a minimum of four times to accommodate the new growth of its increasing size. (3) Then the caterpillar forms itself into a cocoon, a fuzzy sack of rapidly forming growth not visible from the outside. But a metamorphosis (transformation) is happening on the inside. (4) As the adult butterfly emerges from the chrysalis. A winged beautiful butterfly flies away, continuing the circle of life.

We will look at many of the different symbols of the butterfly from around the world and through many cultures. Doing this will show how many of those symbolisms can fit a fibro champion patient.

 

Review the various symbolic parts of the butterfly and you can easily see what makes the Butterfly such a great symbol for fibromyalgia.

Butterfly Symbolism

Accepting Change (Universal)

Aliveness and Brightness (Native American Totem)

Beauty (Christian)

Bliss (Japanese)

Change (Universal)

Circle Of Life (Universal)

Embrace Change ( (Native American Totem)

Finding Joy in life (Native American Totem)

Flying Away With Our Burdens (Christian)

Going through changes and transformations with grace and beauty (Native American)

Grace (Christian)

Granting of Wishes (Native American Indian)

Happiness (American).

Healing (Japanese Symbol)

Hope (Christian)

Immortality (Chinese)

Important Changes (Native American)

Letting go of something bad (Ancient Culture)

Lightness of Being, elevation from the heaviness of tension (Native American)

Migration (Universal)

New Life (Universal)

Personal Transformation (Native American)

Playfulness (Native American Totem)

Profound Change (Native American)

Rebirth (Ancient Culture)

Relaxation (Japanese Symbol)

Resurrection (Christian)

Shedding Of The Old Life (Universal)

Soft As Breath (Universal)

Spirits Of Deceased Loved Ones (Mexican)

Spiritual Growth (Christian)

Stress Reduction (Japanese Symbol)

Support during times of Transition (Native American Totem)

The Soul or Psyche (Ancient Greece)

Transformation (Universal)

Weightlessness (Universal)

Filed under: Fibromyalgia - Fbro Awareness | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Why Do We Celebrate Christmas

Posted on December 15, 2014 by Troy Wagstaff

WHY DO WE CELEBRATE CHRISTMAS?

We celebrate the lives of very important and accomplished men and women in our western culture by commemorating their birthdays. These men and women are the greatest thinkers, innovators, teachers, and leaders. These are the people who were known to have made a difference in our society.

Using the yardstick of “the greatest thinkers, innovators, teachers, and leaders” is it any wonder that we celebrate the birthday of Jesus Christ? Truly, Jesus of Nazareth was the greatest thinker of all time; He applied the teachings of salvation in a way that was understandable by the common man. He was the greatest innovator of all time with all the answers to life’s greatest questions relating to our salvation. Our Savior was the greatest teacher of all time, teaching eternal truths and practical solutions for our salvation and He was the greatest leader of all time; more than 2000 years later and more than a billion people on the earth still follow Him.

Our western societies deem His life so monumental and so life-changing, that we set aside two holidays to mark His life. The first bring Christmas to celebrate His birth and life and the second one, Easter, to commemorate His death and resurrection.

We celebrate Christmas to remember the birth of Jesus Christ, the day the greatest being whoever lived was born. It is on Christmas Day that we honor and rejoice in the magnificent life of our Savior and Redeemer.

WHAT IS CHRISTMAS?

Some holidays that we celebrate each year are special and significant, while other holidays are just another excuse to recreate and barbecue. However, Christmas is a holiday that actually has the power to motivate us to do things. The “power of Christmas motivation” compels us to give of our time by serving at a soup kitchen or some other worthy charity that helps the poor, the homeless and those, otherwise in need.

It is during the Christmas season that we hear wonderful stories of everyday people doing extraordinary acts of service and kindness to their fellow man. We read stories of celebrities visiting children’s hospitals and supporting Christmas type charities such as the Marine Corps’s Toys for Tots, Sub for Santa, Salvation Army or Shop with a Cop and other kind and generous Christmas time activities.

Celebrating Christmas is reflecting on the coming of Christ to earth in a lowly manger and celebrating His sinless perfect life. None of the world’s “greatest thinkers, innovators, teachers, and leaders” have ever been able to affect mankind like Jesus Christ.

The life of Jesus is the perfect example of giving to others and serving others. He healed the sick, He fed the multitudes, He taught the gospel of life and he prepared the way for our salvation.

The birth of our Lord and Savior to the earth was so remarkable and so monumental that the whole Western world reconciled the keeping of time to His birth. If historical events happen before His birth, they are referred to as B.C. If historical events happened after the His birth, they are referred to as A.D.

Jesus taught of giving and serving one another and keeping the commandments of God. He taught us that if we would keep these commandments we would be free from the bonds of sin. To be truly free, Jesus taught us that we can only do so by keeping his commandments.

Symbolism of Gift Giving

Christmas is celebrated as the day of the birth of the greatest man to ever walk the dusty paths of earth. Christmas is a celebration and a reminder of the greatest gift that our Father in Heaven, ever gave to mankind, the gift of his only begotten Son in the flesh.

Our Creator wants everyone one of his children on earth to come back and live with him in Heaven. Like the Scripture that says be ye clean the bear the vessels of the Lord, we need to be clean and free from sin in order to live with our Father in Heaven.

While living in this life, no one is capable of living a sin free life. We all are in need of divine grace and mercy. That’s why our Creator sent Jesus Christ to the earth, to give us an example of how to live our lives and to provide a way for us to repent of our sins and to be forgiven.

We like to attach symbolic meaning to all the trappings and decorations and activities of Christmas, and these are very great, serving a great purpose, but the ultimate symbol of Christmas is in the act of giving, not the gift itself.

While we ponder on the greatest gifts given to mankind from our Heavenly Father, and our Savior, Jesus Christ, do we ever ponder the other side of gift giving? The receiving end of gift giving? How grateful are we to our Father in Heaven for the gift He gave us in the form of His only begotten Son in the flesh?

Why is the Christmas holiday season such “magical time?” If you can overlook the commando style of Christmas shopping that is associated with modern-day gift giving there really is a magical spirit, a special spirit that permeates the air during the Christmas season. Most people really are of good cheer, with shouts of Merry Christmas and happy holidays and Christmas carols coming through the airwaves of our digital devices.

Christmas All Year Long

The reason why the Christmas holiday season is so magical is because everyone is focused directly or indirectly on many symbols associated with the birth of our Savior. So why can’t, we have that spirit and that magical feeling seven days a week, for 365 days a year?

If the Christmas season is so wonderful and joyful is it not worth trying to emulate every single day of the year? Most Christians would agree with this sentiment. It’s not a hard thing to do and many of us may already be doing it. Celebrate Christmas ever day of the year by giving good gifts, the gifts that really matter, like opening the door for someone with their hands full, or shoveling the snow off of your neighbor’s side walk or being polite when someone else is being rude.

Be kind while driving, be courteous to everyone you interact with, be sensitive to the feelings of others, the kind and thoughtful in your choice of words you use to communicate with. In other words, strive to be like our Savior every day of the year and the spirit of Christmas will follow thus. This will give us a year-long spirit of Christmas.

We celebrate Christmas by paying homage to the birth of The Savior and reflecting on His life perfectly lived. Christmas is a day of celebration and commemoration for our Redeemer and Savior.

CallahanWriter

 

Filed under: Christian Articles | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

A River Of Life

Posted on December 7, 2014 by Troy Wagstaff

A River Of Life

Whithersoever The River Shall Come

Throughout the Holy Scriptures water is symbolic. The symbolism of water depends on the parable and how it is used. Water can be symbolic for healing, life, blood, cleaning, Word of God or the gospel. In this instance the symbolism of water deals primarily with the symbolism of life and healing. This imagery comes from Ezekiel 47.

In Ezekiel 43-47 an Angel is showing Ezekiel the plans for a temple or sanctuary for the Lord. The exciting part of this story culminates in chapter 47 where there is a building and from the building issues forth a River. The river measures about one thousand cubits and it flows through the wilderness or desert and then into the Dead Sea healing everything it touches.

The width of the river measures one thousand cubits wide. According to the Hebrews a cubit is a measurement from the tip of the elbow to the tip of the middle finger. Throughout the history of the ancient Hebrews a cubit could be 17.5 inches or 21.5 inches in length. If we were to consider a cubit to be 17 ½ inches, then one thousand cubits equal 486.1 yards. That means that the width of the river would be four football field lengths plus 86 yards. If we were to use the 21 ½ inch cubits then the width of the river would be 597.2 yards, or essentially the length of six football fields.

Mathematically we can say that the river that flowed from the sacred building through the desert to the Dead Sea was five to six football fields wide. We don’t know how long the river was and it doesn’t matter. What really matter is what the river symbolizes and how that applies to our lives.

river_of_lifeI believe to get the full measure of what the Bible has to teach us we need to liken each verse to ourselves and to our everyday life. Insert your name when applicable into verses and passages of Scripture so that it looks like it was referring to you. Apply the lessons of those passages to your daily life.

Symbolism
To apply the passage of Scripture found in Ezekiel 47 we need to understand the symbolism of the building, the wilderness, the Dead Sea and the river of water that comes from the building as it goes through the wilderness and into the Dead Sea.

The building, is the source of the river of water. The sanctuary could represent the Scriptures, the gospel of Jesus Christ, a temple or prophet etc.

The wilderness or the desert represents our lives and the lives of those around us. The Dead Sea is also symbolic of our lives before the healing gospel message is internalized by us.

In the Scriptures, the water issues forth from the temple going through the wilderness and into the Dead Sea. The angel takes Ezekiel to the river and he walks across the river and it goes up to his ankles. A second time Ezekiel crosses the river and it goes up to his knees. A third time Ezekiel crosses the river and it goes up to his waist. The last time Ezekiel goes to the river, the river is so deep that Ezekiel cannot cross the river unless he swims.

Let’s read a few verses from Ezekiel 47, starting with verse seven “Now when I had returned, behold, at the bank of the river were very many trees on the one side and on the other. Then said he unto me, these waters issue out toward the east country, and go down into the desert, and go into the (dead) sea: which being brought forth into the (dead) sea, the waters shall be healed. And it shall come to pass that everything that liveth, which move with, whithersoever the river shall come, shall live: and there shall be a very great multitude of fish, because these waters shall come thither: for they shall be healed; and everything shall live whether the river cometh… And by the river upon the bank thereof, on this side and on that side, shall grow all trees for meat, whose leaf shall not fade, neither shall the fruit thereof be consumed: it shall bring forth new fruit according to his months, because their waters they issued out of the sanctuary: and the fruit thereof shall be for meat, and the leaf thereof for medicine.”

When you apply water to soil, you can go from a barren ground to a fertile land teaming with all types of plant life. From the plant life comes animal life.

Ezekiel goes back to the bank of this very wide river and sees on both banks of the river a multitude of trees and vegetation. He notices fish living in the healed waters. He notes that these trees have fruit for eating and leaves for medicine. Everything needed to sustain life.

The “river of life” mentioned in this biblical metaphor creates life-sustaining substance from something that is barren.

Compare this to our life. Our lives are spiritually barren until the river of life flows through the barren spirit of our life. If we let the river of the gospel flow through our lives at ankle depth then great things can happen to a barren soul.

If we let the river of life flow through our soul at knee depth, we are blessed even more. The spiritual sides of our lives are transformed. Out of darkness our spirits are filled with the bright light of the gospel. If we let the river of life flow through us up to our waste, as it were, we notice even greater spiritual life welling up within us.

As the river of life that flows through us gets so deep we have to swim then we notice that God is making more of us than we can ever make of ourselves. All we ever had to do was open the floodgate and let the water in.

If we find ourselves swimming in the healing river of the gospel of Jesus Christ, completely submerged in these life-giving waters, we can find ourselves made whole in many different ways. If we have sinned, we can open the floodgate through repentance and be made whole again. If we are suffering trouble through no fault of our own, we can open the floodgate to the healing waters of Jesus Christ. If we need strength for the trials’ we face, we can open the floodgate of the river of life to give us strength for the burdens we face. For all of these blessings, all we have to do is open the floodgate and let the waters flow freely through our life.

Think how wonderful this is, that we can be healed by the rivers of life. Consider another point, not only can we be healed, we can become fruitful with all kinds of trees, vegetation and fish growing and developing within us. This is symbolic of our growing spirituality to becoming a source of spiritual strength and nourishment to others.

Filed under: Christian Articles, Christian Devotionals | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

%d bloggers like this: