"The Butterfly"
~The Butterfly~
Once upon a time in a land far far away.
There was a wonderful old man who loved everything.
Animals, spiders, insects....
One day while walking through the woods the
nice old man found a cocoon.
Feeling lonely he decided to take the cocoon home
to watch its beautiful transformation from
a funny little cocoon to a beautiful butterfly.
He gently placed the cocoon on his kitchen table,
and watched over it for days
Suddenly on the seventh day the cocoon started to
move. It moved frantically! The old man felt sorry
for the little butterfly inside the cocoon.
He watched it struggle and struggle and struggle!
Finally the old man feeling so sorry for the cocooned
butterfly rushed to its aide with a surgical scalpel
and gently slit the cocoon so the butterfly could emerge.
Just one slice was all it took, and the butterfly
broke free from its cocoon only to wilt over in a
completely motionless state.
The old man did not know what to think.
Had he accidentally killed the little butterfly?
No, its still moving a little bit.! Maybe its sick!
Who the heck would know?
He was dumbfounded, and quite perplexed!
What should I do, he said. Well he felt so
sorry for the little creature that he decided
the best thing he could do for the butterfly
was to place it gently back into its cocoon.
He did so, and placed a drop of honey on it to
seal the cocoon, leaving the butterfly to nestle
in its natural state.
Well the next day he noticed that the cocoon
was moving again. Wow, he said! It moved and
moved and struggled and struggled. Finally the
butterfly broke free from its cocoon and stretched
its wings out far and wide. Big time yawn! Its
beautiful wings were filled with wonderful colors!
It looked around and took off!
It was flying! Its so beautiful!
The old man was jumping with joy! Wow!
Go Baby, Go!
And that wonderful butterfly did that just that,
it flew and flew till it was almost out of the old
mans sight. What a joy, he exclaimed! But then
he started to think. What did I do wrong by trying
to help that beautiful little butterfly out at first?
The old man went into town. Found the library, and
read every book he could on butterflies and cocoons.
Finally the answer appeared. The butterfly has to
struggle and struggle while inside the cocoon.
That's how it gets its strength. That's just what
they are designed to overcome in order to be strong
and beautiful.
Well needless to say the old man was shocked, saddened,
and somewhat relieved. Now he knows the reason why
they do what they do. It was only his perception
that made it appear that the butterfly was having a
hard time. Well from then on the old man knew that loving
something sometimes means to pray for it and cheer it on!
He realized that God was wonderful, and that sometimes
appearances aren't what they seem to be. That we all
are beautiful butterflies, even though we have our
apparent struggles in life...
Spread your wings and prepare to fly
For you have become a butterfly
Fly abundantly into the sun
If you should return to me
We truly were meant to be
So spread your wings
and fly Butterfly
Author Unknown
