A man found a cocoon of a butterfly.
One day a small opening appeared,
He sat and watched the butterfly
For several hours 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.
Then the man decided to help the butterfly,
So he 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
To be able to support the body,
Which would contract in time.
Neither 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.
What the man in his kindness and haste
Did not understand was
That the restricting cocoon
And the struggle required for the butterfly
To get through the tiny opening were
Natures 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.
Sometimes struggles are exactly
What we need
If we are allowed to go through our life
Without any obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as what we could have been.
And we could never fly.
One day a small opening appeared,
He sat and watched the butterfly
For several hours 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.
Then the man decided to help the butterfly,
So he 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
To be able to support the body,
Which would contract in time.
Neither 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.
What the man in his kindness and haste
Did not understand was
That the restricting cocoon
And the struggle required for the butterfly
To get through the tiny opening were
Natures 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.
Sometimes struggles are exactly
What we need
If we are allowed to go through our life
Without any obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as what we could have been.
And we could never fly.
