Maryannaville™

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly and soon a small opening appeared. For several hours he sat and watched the butterfly as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no farther.

The man not knowing but wanting to help the butterfly took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand enough to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. But, neither one happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly.

In his kindness and haste the man did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggling required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were nature’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Moral of the story?
Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If nature allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, we would become crippled. We would not be as strong as what we could have and should have been. Without resistance, we can not fly. Freedom and flight will only come after we first struggle with building the strength we need for the flight itself.

Originally posted 2007-04-01 00:07:00. Republished by Blog Post Promoter