I’m sure many have probably heard this inspirational short story before somewhere else, but I decided to include it anyway as a reminder for all those like myself who occasionally long for a quick and easy fix for the struggles we’re currently facing in life.
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. Until it suddenly stopped making any progress, and looked like it was stuck. 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, although it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man didn’t think anything of it, and sat there waiting for the wings to enlarge to support the butterfly. But that didn’t happen. The butterfly spent the rest of its life unable to fly, crawling around with tiny wings and a swollen body. Despite the kind heart of the man, he didn’t understand that the restricting cocoon and the struggle needed by the butterfly to get itself through the small opening, were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings, solely to prepare itself for flying once it got itself fully emerged.
I love this story because of the spiritual message behind it. In all my struggles with my health and healing these past few years, I have longed for someone or something to make the hole a little bigger in my own cocoon so that I could emerge much easier and hopefully put an end to all this suffering. Yet, somehow, I know that everything I continue to endure is all part of my own journey to become the butterfly I’ve always wanted to become and was meant to become in this life. And the last thing I’d ever want to happen, is for me to emerge from my cocoon too early solely because I sought that quick and easy solution that only left me with my own set of shriveled wings and an inability to ever fly.
So, even though this process of breaking through my own cocoon has been arduous more than not these past few years, I know that in the end, when I finally do emerge from it, every bit of pain, hardship, struggle, and tears will have been far worth it, as my colors are able to finally shine for the glory of God while I soar through the air with beauty and ease…
Peace, love, light, and joy,
Andrew Arthur Dawson
