A man found the 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 could go no further.
So the man decided to help the butterfly.
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 wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly
because he expected that, at any moment,
the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support
the body, which would contract in time.
Neither happened!
In fact, the butterfly spent
the rest of its 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 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 we could have been.
And we could never fly.
So have a nice day...
and struggle a little.
