When difficult times come
and continue for a while, it is hard for us to imagine that they have a purpose
in our lives, or that good will ultimately come from our struggles. Consider
with me the story of the butterfly:
One day, while
relaxing on his porch, a man looked out and saw a small cocoon hanging from a
branch on a bush. Upon closer inspection, he could see a small hole on the end
of the cocoon. The cocoon moved back and forth as the butterfly inside
struggled to make its way through the opening.
Fascinated by what
was happening, the man watched for what seemed like hours, until finally, the
movement stopped. Unfortunately, the butterfly was still inside the cocoon. It
appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and could not go any farther.
Feeling compassion
for the struggling butterfly, the man decided to help. He took a pair of
scissors and gently opened the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily.
As the man watched the
butterfly come out of its restrictive shell, he saw that its body appeared
withered, and it had tiny, shriveled wings. He expected that at any moment, the
wings would open, expand, and become firm enough to support the butterfly’s
body, but to his great disappointment, this didn’t happen. In fact, the
butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with shriveled wings. It
never was able to fly.
What this kind man
had failed to understand was, the butterfly was required to struggle. The
effort, as difficult as it seemed, allowed the fluids of his body to be forced
up into his wings. Only then would he be ready for flight.
Isaiah 55:9-10
states, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,
saith the Lord. For as heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher
than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”
Sometimes,
struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If we went through our lives
without any obstacles, we would find ourselves crippled emotionally and
spiritually. We would not be as strong as we could have been.
If, through our trials, the Lord doesn’t
immediately take them away, perhaps He is preparing us too fly!
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