Trials

~ 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.

The old man gently placed the cocoon on his kitchen table, and

watched over it for a few days. Suddenly, on the seventh day, the cocoon started to frantically move as the butterfly struggled to free itself. Feeling so sorry for the cocooned butterfly, he rushed to its aide 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?

Feeling completely dumbfounded and quite perplexed, the man wondered what he should do. He felt so sorry for the little butterfly that he decided the best thing he could do was to place it gently back in its cocoon. Then he resealed it with a drop of honey, leaving the butterfly to nestle in its natural state.

The next day, the old man noticed that the cocoon was moving again, but this time he did not help the butterfly. Instead, he watched it struggle for quite some time until it finally broke free. Then the butterfly stretched out its colorful wings, looked around, and flew off!

The old man wondered what he had done wrong by helping the butterfly to escape from its cocoon, so he researched the matter. Soon, he learned that in order for the butterfly to be strong enough to survive when it was outside the cocoon, it was necessary for it to struggle while escaping its cocoon. That’s how it gained its strength.

Many people have trials in their lives, but these trials are meant to make us stronger. We may struggle and become exhausted at times, but usually we will emerge stronger.