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 further.
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 legs. The man continued to watch the butterfly because
he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand and be able to
support the body, which would contract in time. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of his
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
God'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.
Sometimes struggle are exactly what we need in our life. If we were allowed to go
through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as what we could've been. And we could never fly...
Proverbs 3:5-7
Ecclesiastes 12:13-14
Ephesians 2:19-20