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Parable of the Butterfly
- May 24, 2010 at 2:10 PM
- By
- Comments (10) Total Views (1354) Everyone can see this journal post.
A man came upon a cocoon of a butterfly in his garden. 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.
It worked and worked, and then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it 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. However, he was saddened to see that it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings.
The man continued to watch the butterfly. He expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time, and the butterfly would triumphantly take flight.
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.
Never.
What the man did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening would force the fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings, causing the wings to expand 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 lives.
If we traveled this journey without any obstacles, it would cripple us.
We would not be as strong as what we could have been.
We could never fly.
Comments:
LOVE THIS!!!!!!!!!!
More families should realize this ... so important for our children to learn to become competent instead of being babied through life.
Yep, this is where so many fail. It is through adversity that we become all that we can be. If everything is just handed to us without our having to work for it, we do not learn the value of hard work, we do not learn how to self-motivate to reach goals, and we do not become anything worth becoming.
A little sad but so very true.
It IS a little sad, but completely true.
We have to allow, encourage, and REQUIRE people to become able or they never will be.
Wonderful - it's called developing coping skills and resiliency. One of the great failings of modern society...
Good! Thanks for sharing!
Love it!
I just came upon this... I LOVE IT! If you don't mind, I would like to print it out as a reminder to let my children "stuggle" and not rush to help them every second.
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Very thought-provoking and very true.
- luvmyguyandgirl
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