The Butterfly's Struggle

[Guest guest]

I have read many things that wrote about butterlies. I know

that was one analogy she used to describe going to the other side. I

have always enjoyed this beautiful story for inspiration on days I

needed it. To me, this is OUR story as people who struggle with

lupus, or any other chronic disease. We cannot forget that there IS a

beautiful butterfly in every one of us.. no matter how hard it is to

reveal. has finally had the chance to fly free of this pain

and suffering and I imagine her as the most beautiful butterfly there

is. We will all fly free like her someday. The hard part is now...

the effort to shed the cocoon. I thought you all might like this

story, too. I apologize if it has already been posted, but I am new

and have no way of knowing.

A Butterfly's Struggle

A Butterfly A man found a cocoon for 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 the 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 farther. Then the man decided to

help the butterfly.

He took a pair of scissors and snipped the remaining bit of the

cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. Something was strange. The

butterfly had a swollen body and shriveled wings. The man continued

to watch the butterfly because he expected 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 deformed

wings. It was never 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 smallopening of the cocoon are 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 throughall our life without any obstacles,

that would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could

have been. Not only that, we could never fly.