The Metamorphic Journey

By DaNika Neblett Robinson

People see the beauty but know nothing about the transformation.

What created the brilliance they see on display?

Their true beauty is manifested in the strength of their wings.

• Language: English
• Publisher: BookBaby
• Release date: Sep 29, 2018
• ISBN: 9781543949193

Book preview

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Preface

From the day you were born until the day you die, you will undergo metamorphosis.

One blissful day, you were presented to this world as a no-name baby girl. From the very moment you were formed in your mother’s womb as an egg to the very moment you forged your way out of the cocoon, you began your metamorphic journey to greatness.

There is no one life experience that shapes who you will become. They are all valuable and necessary to display who you are to the world.

Your life will undergo many twists and turns. Life will take you on a journey that is unpredictable, but the benefit of the process will result in transformation that human eyes cannot see. This journey of a lifetime does not match anyone else’s.

Rejoice. You will live to tell your story so someone else’s life can be transformed. It is easy to get bogged down with who did not love you. Why this happened to you. Or what you are supposed to do next.

Do not fret or cry because things did not happen the way you intended. There is no beauty in dwelling on the circumstances. The beauty is in the ashes (Isaiah 61:3, KJV).

The beauty manifests itself in how you embrace your metamorphosis. The beauty is in the brilliance of your wings that fly high from place to place. The beauty is in the lives you change as you continue to move forward, not knowing how the story ends.

In this moment, the burden you are carrying may not feel like a little bump in the road. It may feel like Mount Everest.

Do not allow your emotions to deter you from achieving all that God has for you. It does not look like what it appears to be.

You CAN get through this.

You WILL get through this.

You SHALL get through this.

ONE day at a time.

ONE moment at a time.

ONE journey at a time.

In the Beginning

There is something growing inside of me.

I have no clue what the gender will be.

Should I keep it or abort it,

A lot of thoughts are clouding my mind.

If I abort it or put it up for adoption,

Will it take me out of this bind?

Decisions, decisions,

Too many of them to make.

I have to do what is best for us,

No matter what it takes.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. (Genesis 1:1, KJV)

Section I

The Egg

A butterfly’s metamorphic journey begins as an egg. Various colors, shapes, and sizes. Just like us.

Some of us are short. Tall. Round. Slender. Our diversity is what makes us beautiful.

We cannot change our skin color. What family we were born in. Or even where we were born. We must simply embrace it. All of it. Being grateful we have an opportunity to make the most of this metamorphic journey.

The female butterfly meticulously lays her eggs on a leaf. A protected area. No disturbances. No harm.

The caterpillar hatches from the egg and immediately feeds from the leaf where it was laid. It had no choice in the type of leaf. Location of the leaf. Or any other particulars. The egg must be resilient to persevere through what has been provided.

Just as the egg has been meticulously placed and protected, you have been meticulously placed and protected to emerge from the right place at the right time.

Right now, you may see devastation. Not beauty. A revealing time is coming. All will be amazed at who you have become.

You are covered.

You are protected.

You are beautiful.

Naomi’s Flutter

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My name is Naomi, and my metamorphic journey to greatness began when I was eighteen years old. I was a high school graduate, entering my freshman year of college, when I left Promised Land, South Carolina. Only two miles long. There seemed to not be much promise in that land.

Everybody knew each other. If Ms. Lorraine saw you riding down the street on your bicycle at dusk, she would holler from her porch, Baby, make sure you come right back now. She had no clue where you were going, and it did not matter. Mr. Vernon would fuss about girls hanging around boys. Fast tail girls, he called them.

Promised Land was a community. Like family. Even if not blood-related, people had free rein to discipline you. When they told your blood-related family what you did or did not do, you would get disciplined again. No questions asked.

Your friends from elementary school were your friends through high school. Now, don’t get me wrong, those friends were not always your best friends. Some of them became your best frenemies.

Barbara Ann and Georgia Mae had been friends since kindergarten. For a long time, I thought they were twin sisters. Not because they looked alike. If one started an argument, the other would finish it. No matter how it all got started.

On the other hand, I was best friends with June from second grade to eighth grade. Best frenemies from ninth grade to eleventh grade. That’s when she started hanging out with Peaches and her crew. They would talk about my very dark skin and Coke bottle eyeglasses. Clowning me for being a nerd.

Little did they know, I was no nerd