Horace was a little caterpillar and lived in a big garden that was full of plants and beautiful flowers.  He liked his name, but I wonder if you would be happy if your parents had named you "Horace".   I'm sure kids at school would have nicknamed you, "Horse Face" and that would have been terribly upsetting!

Anyway, every morning Horace crawled up his favourite tree and searched around for a fresh juicy leaf.  He would bite off a huge piece of leaf and then eat his breakfast while he watched beautiful butterflies flit from flower to flower in the sunshine.

Every day he sighed a big sigh and said sadly, "I wish I wasn't a caterpillar.  I'm tired of being an ugly little worm.  If only I could fly like those butterflies.  I would soar and visit every flower in the garden.  Oh, if only I were a butterfly.  I need a change ... I want a New Me!"

And so time went on and during spring and summer, Horace would crawl up the tree and munch on juicy leaves.  But, you know, as he ate more and more, and more and more, he grew bigger and bigger until he was enormous!  It now took a lot of effort to move about and he grew rather tired.  However, every day he would still watch the butterflies and shout, "I want a New Me!"

One day, Horace noticed that the sun was not so warm because winter was coming.  "Br-r-r!" shivered Horace, "I think I need to crawl into a nice warm place where I can just sleep and sleep."  So he searched the branches until he found a sheltered twig.  "This looks perfect!" he exclaimed and set about making himself a little cocoon house.

No one to showed him what to do, because God had made Horace and put inside him the knowledge of how to make a cocoon.  He worked on his little house all day, not even stopping for a snack!  Finally he finished and as he was very tired, he crawled inside his cocoon and sealed the end shut.

Horace was sleepy, so he snuggled into a comfortable position and murmured, "That's perfect!"  And you know what?  Horace slept right through the winter and into spring!  And during Horace's long sleep, a wonderful miracle was happening.

One morning, Horace awoke, but felt cramped inside his cocoon.  It was hot and so he nibbled a hole in his cocoon and began to creep out of his cocoon.  "Ah," he shouted, "That's better so I think I'll sit in the sun for a while and stretch my wings a bit ...."

"Wings?  Did I say wings?  Hey!  I'm a New Me!"

His wish had come true and he was no longer a little caterpillar.   God had changed him into a beautiful butterfly.  With a happy heart, Horace flew high in the air.  He soared and flew from flower to flower and you couldn't find a happier butterfly than Horace.  God had given him a "New Me!"

God also wants to change us into what the Bible calls, a "New Creature."  Yes, He wants us to become His own very dear children!  God looks inside our hearts and sees what kind of people we are.  He wants to forgive us for all the wrong things we have said and done, and change us inside.  What we say and do can never please God.   And when we want to do right, we often end up doing wrong things!

Only God can change us, just like He changes caterpillars into butterflies.  He wants us to invite Jesus to come and live in our hearts, so He can make us into a loving and happy person, and fill us with joy.

How can you have this?  You only need to ask God to change you, and Jesus will come to live inside you.  He cleans out all the sin and wrong things that you have done.  He gives you eternal life and helps you to do the right things every day.  In John 3:16, Jesus said:

"For God so loved the world that He gave His one and only Son,
that whoever believes in Him shall not perish but have eternal life."

Would you like to ask Jesus to come in your life?  He wants to give you a "New You" today!

God bless.