The Cocoon And The Butterfly

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly that he brought home.

One day a small opening appeared in the cocoon. He sat and watched the cocoon for several hours as the butterfly struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making progress. It appeared as if the butterfly had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further!

The man decided to help the butterfly in its struggle. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon…and the butterfly emerged easily. As the butterfly emerged, it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He thought that in time the butterfly’s body would contract and the butterfly would be able to fly.

But neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its short 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 were required for the butterfly to be able to fly. The butterfly must push its way through the tiny opening to force the fluid from its body and wings. Only by struggling through the opening, can the butterfly’s wings be ready for flight once it emerges from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God allowed us 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.

But when you wonder about life’s obstacles, remember that struggles are needed so that we can emerge, ready to fly. We are meant for the skies!

“I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life, as by the obstacles which he has overcome in trying to succeed.” – Booker T. Washington