Story~

Let me tell you the story of this Butterfly.

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 squeeze it's body through the tiny hole.

Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go any further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly,

He took a pair of scissors and

snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon.

The butterfly emerged easily but

it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it,

expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge

and expand enough to support the body.

Neither happened!

In fact the butterfly spent the rest of it's life

crawling around.

It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness

and haste did not understand:

The restricting cocoon and the struggle

required by the butterfly to get through the opening

was a way of forcing the fluid from the body

into the wings so that it would be ready

for flight once that was achieved.

Sometimes struggles are exactly

what we need in our lives.

Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.

We will not be as strong as we could have been

and we would never fly.


I know that most of us would say that we have had more than our share of struggles in our lives.  We would be just fine if we had already reached our quota for the obstacle department.  After reading this, & re-reading a few more times, it really resonated in me.  I looked at the most difficult times in my life.  The challenges that were put before me, they forced me to struggle.  Once I got past that moment and took the time to reflect on it.  I found that I really did grow.  Sometimes, in Strength, other times in Faith, but I always grew from the experience.  Gaining knowledge and learning that I can make it thru.  If everything was easy or handed to us we would lose the lesson.  We would never gain the appreciation of earning and learning .  I can remember back to High School.  Upon Graduation a fair number of kids were given a new car.  I ( at the time ) felt that I was cheated.  I wasn't given that shiny, right off the truck, straight from the factory new car.  Instead,  I spent many a long Summer and did many various odd jobs to earn money so that I could buy my first car.  It wasn't right out of the factory, but rather the used car lot.  I didn't get the car that I had my heart set on, but I got a good all year long car that was dependable.  Two years later, when I was in a horrific car accident, I learned the value of the lesson.  For you see had I gotten the car that I had my heart set on, I would not be here today.  I struggled to pay for the car that I got & it served me well.  Looking back now, 
I can say...  Lesson Learned...
XoXo