Re: The Butterfly's Struggle

[Guest guest]

Very true! I sent the poem to my one sister dealing with colon

cancer and my brother dealing with arthritis.

> 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.