If you ever saw the movie “Braveheart” you may remember how William Wallace yelled out “Freedom!” during the scene at the end when they executed him. Freedom is the Scotsman’s mantra. My Scotties, being like their name, become transformed when they get to take a free off-leash walk in the woods.

Of course, a founding principle of America is that all people want to be free. Ask yourself this question: How free are you? Ask it from a spiritual sense. Are you as free as you want to be?

I believe butterflies were put on this earth to help us understand our spiritual potential. During this marvelous season of the butterfly’s southbound migration, think for a moment about the caterpillar and its butterfly. Let’s revisit their story. Once a tiny egg hatches on a leaf, a small caterpillar emerges, spending his life eating leaves as he grows bigger and bigger. He may move from bush to bush as he searches for the freshest leaves to eat; but he basically lives a confined life until one day, something inside tells him there could be

more.

Suddenly the caterpillar has a divine awakening. He discovers he can be born again into a much freer self. Filled with hope and faith, he follows the divine directions; some may call it DNA. He doesn’t hesitate. He doesn’t complain about his current limited condition asking “why did you take so long to tell me about this?” He simply answers the call to change. Hanging from a leaf, he goes to sleep for a time while God uses DNA to completely transform the wormlike creature into a beautiful, graceful, winged being. Now able to fly, this new organism soars as high as the clouds — monarch butterflies have been seen flying as high as 11,000 feet above sea-level.

This can be your story. You are really a limitless eternal Divine Spirit; you are not your body, tied to the ground with a short time to live. Jesus said you can be everything he was — and still is. Think what that means. Your consciousness, that part of you science can’t find but knows exists, is Divine Spirit. That Spirit is living in a biological housing we call a body, cut off from its potential due to your lack of knowledge and faith.

You are trapped like the caterpillar unable to ascend above the body’s limitations. Most people think and act like the caterpillar. They just go to work, come home tired, eat dinner, watch some television and go to bed, only to start it all over again the next day.

Jesus told us we could be much more than that. But we’d have to be like the caterpillar. We’d have to trust the little voice inside which says there is more; there is the possibility of greater freedom and a wonderful life. As we learn to trust God, we search for new answers. We find those answers in the Holy Bible and many other books. I recommend the remarkable book, “The Sermon on the Mount” by Emmet Fox if you want to gain real in-depth knowledge. This is the book that gave me a new view of my potential. If you don’t have a lot of time, a quick read is his book “Emmet Fox Explains.”

A celebrated preacher during the early 20th Century, Emmet Fox walked the talk. He became nearly deaf and blind as a young person due to chronic illness. One day he found a transformative spiritual book which explained many historic mystic meanings found in the Bible. That document showed him how to rise above his illness to a higher spiritual level than he had ever experienced before. This higher faith made him well. He regained his hearing and most of his sight — only needing glasses for full vision. But most important, he found more personal freedom than he had ever believed possible.

This transformation allowed Emmet Fox to heal other people. He continued to read and assimilate all of Christ’s teachings. Soon he began speaking about what he had learned.

He moved back to America, where he was born and was asked to lead a church in New York City. In the 1930s that church grew from 500 members to over 5,000 because of Fox’s amazing ability to tell Christ’s story, captivating people’s attention and bringing them closer to God. U.S. Senators, movie stars and people all the way down to the lowest levels of society attended Fox’s church. They loved him, they loved God and they learned to love each other.

God’s love transformed Emmet Fox. God’s love transforms anyone who is willing to fully embrace the One Great Power in the universe. The core message is to love everyone and all God’s creations. Forgive all people whom you believe have trespassed against you. Set them free so that you become as free as the butterfly, enjoying a full and happy life. You can be just like my Scotties on an off-leash forest walk. You can leave the pain and fear and ascend to Love.

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs.”

— 1 Corinthians 13:4-5 (NIV).