Butterfly Wings

Recently while my husband and I were visiting his family in Missouri, we visited the Butterfly House a part of the Missouri Botanical Garden. It was there that I learned about the journey of the butterfly and how it gives birth from the cocoon. The new butterfly must squeeze through an incredible small hole at the end of the cocoon. During this process the fluids from the body are pushed into the wings, causing the wings to be able to have the strength it needs flap and this allows for the butterfly to be able to fly. You can not rush this process – it has to happen all on its own. And if the hole is prematurely cut open the fluid will not flow into the wings, leaving the butterfly with a swollen body and wings that do not have the strength to flap. The story below gives light to this.

Like the butterfly we must endure the pressures, struggles, and heartaches in life in order to develop into a person of strength. As painful as our struggles can be, if we allow it, they can be an opportunity for us to become a stronger person. If we go through life with no struggles, we will not grow as a person and we will be crippled, like the butterfly in the story below. We all face struggles and heartaches in our life and it is the growth out of the pain we face that allows us to develop into a stronger person. We all wish this were not true – but I know, looking back on my life, the struggles and heartaches I have faced have truly made me a stronger person, a better person. And like the butterfly, the process can often be slow and painful in the moment. I also know I will continue to face struggles and pain in the future, but if I allow God in on this process I will get through them, like I have in the past and will in the future – for He is my rock.

“The LORD is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer;

my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge.

He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.”

Psalm 18:2 (NIV)

Written by Patty B. ♥


 

The Story of the Butterfly

(Author Unknown)


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 squeeze its body through the tiny hole. Then it stopped, as if it couldn't go further.So the man decided to help the butterfly.

He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bits of cocoon. The butterfly emerged easily but it had a swollen body and shriveled wings.

The man continued to watch it, expecting that any minute the wings would enlarge and expand enough to support the body, Neither happened! In fact the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around. It was never able to fly.

What the man in his kindness and haste did not understand: The restricting cocoon and the struggle required by the butterfly to get through the opening was a way of forcing the fluid from the body into the wings so that it would be ready for flight once that was achieved.