Saturday, November 27, 2004

Struggles

  Reading a Pupas entry <-- click tonight in Steven's Sometimes Photo Blog, I was reminded of a story I heard one time and quickly scribbled down on paper, here it is ... 

     A man found a cocoon of a butterfly, one day a tiny opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force it's body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making progress, it appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and it could go no further.

     So the man decides to help the butterfly, he took a small 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 it's 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 restricting cocoon and struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were natures way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into it's wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved it's freedom from the cocoon.

     I guess the point here is ... sometimes the struggles we are faced with, help make us strong enough to fly.

                         Author unknown, at least to me.

                                   *** Coy ***

18 comments:

Anonymous said...

I just saw this exact metaphor on the last episode of the TV show "Lost"--except it was a moth... hmmm, is this a coincidence?  (Do you watch "Lost"?)  --Albert

Anonymous said...

I am not planning on doing any helping of that sort :-)
The photo of the Fritillary cocoon does not show it, but there is an unopened passion flower bud on that stem! I should be able to get both in frame in a day or so.

Hopefully, I'll get to see an emergence from one as it would be grand to photograph.

Anonymous said...

Wonderful way of looking at our struggles.  I've always figured there was a lesson to be learned from our struggles, often we get impatient and want to get past the struggles.  In rushing we might miss the lesson and then we are doomed to repeat the struggles.

Monica
http://journals.aol.com/sonensmilinmon/SmilinMonsAdventures/

Anonymous said...

What a wonderful entry!  Thank you so much!

Deb

Anonymous said...

Back years ago when I was a preacher I used this story to close a sermon but I didn't have such a beautiful picture. Thanks.

Anonymous said...

Loved this entry Coy!!!
Connie

Anonymous said...

{{{{{Coy}}}}},
I'm glad you shared this story. I hadn't read it in a while, but it was good to re-visit it and remember that struggles even when painful are there for a reason. What a beautiful picture you have in this entry!

Anonymous said...

Before I even read this entry, your photo reminded me of one of Steven's photos....I saw the recent ones there as well......very nice work on this one!  perfect!  

~nettie  

Anonymous said...

Coy, this is an incredible entry!!! This goes into my favorites list! : )

Anonymous said...

This story is so true.

Anonymous said...

what a cool story...thanks for coming to my journal and leaving your link to yours...also that butterfly picture is awesome...hope u have a great monday...and i will be back!

linda
http://journals.aol.com/lindainspokane/LifewithLinny

Anonymous said...

I love this story... Not only does it remind us that sometimes struggle is good, but that sometimes what we view as help is bad. Thank you for visiting my journal... I might not have found yours otherwise! I'll be back!
http://journals.aol.com/astaryth/AdventuresofanEclecticMind

Anonymous said...

Good food for thought! 'Specially for mothers!

Anonymous said...

I love this entry, and your journal!!  Thanks for visiting mine - yours is now on my notify list.

What a wonderful thought - thanks for posting this.
=) kris

Anonymous said...

Isn't this the truth.................... judi

Anonymous said...

awesome journal you have here!! Great find!! :-) I shall be back. In the mean time, drop me a line! =)
Love, Meg that butterfly is absolutely a beauty, thats so neat that you live in Boca Raton. Ive always wanted to travel there. I will get there one day. :)

Love, Meg(again) lol
Oh, yes! Check this out-http://journals.aol.com/megzie212/HoldayHappeningsinJ-land/ (my holiday blog!!)

oh of course this one too....

Anonymous said...

Thank you for visiting my Journal today!  I enjoyed reading yours for the first time today as well. :-)
Micheyle

Anonymous said...

This entry is one that makes you stop and think.  Am I using the right terminology by saying entry or should I use blog?  Anyway, I never knew that about the butterfly.  Interesting to know.

Beth
http://journals.aol.com/boofanna/BethsBrain