A man found a butterfly cocoon. 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 farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so 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.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If God

allowed us to go through our life without any obstacles, it would

cripple us.

We would not be as strong as what we could have been.