A Butterfly’s Struggle
The story of A Butterfly’s Struggle has touched my life for many years. The first time I read it I was in awe of anyone who could live their life in such a manner.
Over the years, this way of thinking has become more and more a way of living for me. To be able to look back on my life and see that every struggle has brought me strength. Every time I wished a problem away, and it didn’t leave, I have learned a valuable lesson.
I have learned to appreciate the ‘good’ and to see the ‘good’ in what I would have considered ‘bad’… helping me to live a life where every day I am happy and stress free.
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 its body through the tiny hole.
Then it stopped, as if it couldn’t go 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 its 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 it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
Sometimes struggles are exactly
what we need in our lives.
Going through life with no obstacles would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as we could be. Never being able to fly.
I asked for Strength ……. And God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for Wisdom…….. And God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for Prosperity…… And God gave me a brain and brawn to work.
I asked for Courage…….. And God gave me obstacles to overcome.
I asked for Love ……….. And God gave me troubled people to help.
I asked for Favors…….. And God gave me opportunities.
“I received nothing that I wanted….. But everything that I needed.”
