Butterfly

Once upon a time in a land far far away.
There was a wonderful old man who loved everything. Animals, spiders, insects....

One day while walking through the woods the
nice old man found a cocoon.

Feeling lonely he decided to take the cocoon home
to watch its beautiful transformation from
a funny little cocoon to a beautiful butterfly.

He gently placed the cocoon on his kitchen table, and
watched over it for days.

Suddenly on the seventh day the cocoon started to move.
It moved frantically! The old man felt sorry
for the little butterfly inside the cocoon.
He watched it struggle and struggle and struggle!

Finally the old man feeling so sorry for the cocooned
butterfly rushed to its aide with a surgical scalpel and
gently slit the cocoon so the butterfly could emerge.

Just one slice was all it took,
and the butterfly broke free
from its cocoon only to wilt over in a
completely motionless state.

The old man did not know what to think.
Had he accidentally killed the little butterfly?
No, it's still moving a little bit.! Maybe it's sick!

Who the heck would know?
He was dumbfounded, and quite perplexed!
What should I do, he said. Well he felt so sorry for the little creature
that he decided the best thing he could
do for the butterfly
was to place it gently back into its cocoon.

He did so, and placed a drop of honey
on it to seal the cocoon,
leaving the butterfly to nestle
in its natural state.

Well the next day he noticed that the
cocoon was moving again.
Wow, he said! It moved and moved and
struggled and struggled.

Finally the butterfly broke free
from its cocoon and
stretched its wings out far and wide.

Its beautiful wings were filled with
wonderful colors! It looked around and took off!
It was flying! Its so beautiful!
The old man was jumping with joy! Wow!

Go Baby, Go! And that wonderful butterfly did that just that,
it flew and flew till it was almost
out of the old mans sight.

What a joy, he exclaimed!
But then he started to think.
What did I do wrong by trying
to help that beautiful little butterfly out at first?

The old man went into town.
Found the library, and
read every book he could on
butterflies and cocoons.

Finally the answer appeared.
The butterfly has to struggle and struggle
while inside the cocoon.

That's how it gets its strength.
That's just what they are designed to
overcome in order to be strong and beautiful.

Well needless to say the old man was shocked,saddened, and somewhat relieved.

Now he knows the reason why they do what they do.
It was only his perception that made
it appear that the butterfly was
having a hard time.

Well from then on the old man knew that loving
something sometimes means to
pray for it and cheer it on!

He realized that God was wonderful, and
that sometimes appearances aren't what
they seem to be.

That we all are beautiful butterflies,
even though we have our apparent struggles in life...

Spread your wings and prepare to fly
For you have become a butterfly.

Fly abundantly into the sun.

If you should return to me
We truly were meant to be,

So spread your wings
and fly, Butterfly.