The Butterfly And The Cocoon

Ok, I am guilty. I spied on Little Bkworm at her camp yesterday night. Her father and I drove by her school after dinner but we couldn't see a thing. It was pitch dark and all we could see were the outline of some tents erected around the field. Maybe we were expecting a group of youngsters sitting around a campfire and singing songs!

As we drove away, the truth suddenly hit me. Our children need us in their lives. They depend on us to take care of them and cuddle them when they are young. But once they reach adolescence, they break away. Not that they don't need us anymore but that 'need' has evolved. They need their own space as they grapple with being young adults. They need to experiment with different feelings and emotions; learning to deal with each facet of life as a teenager in the best way that they know how. And behind all these, they still need us to support them; no longer like holding their hands to cross the road or physically feeding them food. But rather to let them know that no matter what happens, we will still love them and be there for them. To guide them when they are unsure of what to do and not to judge them when they fall.

It's harsh reality especially when it didn't seem too long ago when she can't sleep without a goodnight kiss and hug from us. When you love your kid, you want to protect them from all of life's hardships and hurts. You wish you can take that blow instead of it hitting your kid's fragile heart. You want to keep them safe from all of the world's wickedness and selfishness. But you know you can't because they can't grow without the frictions of life.

I love the story below....

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. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it had and it could go no further.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled 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 contract in time.

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.

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 tiny opening were 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 through our life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. And we could never fly. (author unknown)

In the middle of the night, I was woken up by the sounds of heavy rain outside. My thoughts immediately went to Little Bkworm, sleeping in her tent out in the open field. Will she get wet? Or will she be cold? Is she sleeping well? Many questions went through my mind. I prayed and asked God to watch over her even in the rains and I went back to sleep.

Surely God who made that beautiful butterfly will know how to take care of her too.