The Wisdom of Struggle

I received an e-mail from my colleague this morning and it made my day.  Below is the article I received and I hope that you will also find this useful and thought provoking.

One day, a small opening appeared on a cocoon.  A man sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the 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 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 was NEVER 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 was 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's achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes, STRUGGLES are exactly what we NEED in our lives.

If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would CRIPPLE us.  We would not be as strong as what we could have been.

It's a simple story about how nature works but its meaning is very deep.  Think about it.  I would appreciate your comments about this post very much.