The Butterfly Story

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared, he watched the butterfly as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it stopped making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no farther. He decided to help the butterfly, took a pair of scissors, snipped the remaining bit of the cocoon and the butterfly emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He watched the butterfly, expecting at any moment that 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. Never was it able to fly.

But the man in his kindness and haste did not understand. It was the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, that were his way of forcing fluid from its body into its wings so that it would be ready for flight once free from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are what we need in life. To go through our lives without any obstacles, would cripple us. We would not be as strong as we should have been. We could never fly.

[Return to divrei chizuk]