THE STRUGGLING BUTTERFLY
A story of patience and the power of struggle
Once upon a time, a kind and compassionate woman found the cocoon of a butterfly dangling from a tree branch near her garden. One day a small opening appeared on the side of the cocoon exposing the emerging butterfly for the very first time. The woman sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Eventually, the beautiful butterfly seemed to have suddenly stopped making any progress at all – it appeared to be stuck! Thus the woman decided to help the butterfly. She took a pair of small scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily, although it now had a swollen body and small shriveled wings. The woman didn’t think anything of it and sat there waiting for the wings to enlarge in order to support the developing butterfly, but that never happen. The butterfly spent the rest of its life unable to fly, instead, crawling around with its tiny wings and swollen body. Despite the kind heart and good intentions of the woman, she didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small opening; were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings to prepare itself for flying once it was out of the cocoon.
ALWAYS REMEMBER…
Our struggles in life develop our strengths. Without struggles, we can NEVER grow and NEVER get stronger! It is very important for us to tackle challenges on our own, and to not be relying on help from others all the time. Just think about this the next time you ask someone to do for you what you already know deep down that you CAN (and should) be doing for yourself.
