The Butterfly

Very often after our talks or ‘shows’ we get asked how is it possible to be happy in difficult situations.  Well, it’s not always possible, sorry. But I do like to offer up this little parable.

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 could, and it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. 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.

We are all faced with difficult times and often we have to overcome these difficulties on our own. We have to trust in our inner strength.

This is why it is so very important to build up a good reserve of happiness and positivity.

Just like we must keep our immune system strong, so that we can fight off physical aliments, so to, must we have a strong happiness immune system…wait, I’m not sayin’ we want to be immune to happiness…no, that's the opposite of what…hold a …LESLEY!