Pelican

I was asked to share this in a separate thread. I found this analogy helpful in my recovery, and am happy to share it with you:

The cocoon & the butterfly
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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 the little hole. 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 farther. Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of cocoon.

The butterfly then emerged easilty. But it had a swollen body and small shrivelled 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 contrast.

Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shivelled 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 opening, were the way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its's freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in life. If God allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, we would not be as strong as we could have been. And we could never fly.

dandylion

Thanks Pelican, for this post. It is a message that has helped me many times when I am paraliyzed by fear of the future. It is perhaps, my favorite story of inspiration.

I am happy to be reminded, today.

dandylion

Titanic

Thanks, you know I love this caterpillar to butterfly thing! Always better to avoid the snips or "our slips" - reverting into a caterpillar.

Always enjoy reading your signature story!