ONE OF MY FAVORITE STORIES

Below is a story that I often tell my friends or co-workers who are going through a rough time. I honestly don't mind the rough times, because they have made me tougher. Each hurdle, each challenge has only strengthened me. I hope you'll enjoy this story!!! I have actually told friends, that I thank peoople who give me these challeneges because they are making me a better person! (Just like I thanked my track coach, softball coach, Mrs. Stephens, my typing teacher in the 10th grade, My Mother, my photography teachers who critisized my work. All the people who came into my life in so many ways and who hurt my feelings, or did things to me I thought was unfair......and so many others! THANK YOU!(Oh and thanks to my new personal trainer, Billy, who is making me push past the pain, 6 days a week!)----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------One beautiful spring day, a little boy was playing outdoors and found a fascinating caterpillar. He carefully picked it up and took it home to show his mother. He asked his mother if he could keep it, and she said he could if he would take good care of it.

The little boy got a large jar from his mother and put plants to eat, and a stick to climb on, in the jar. Every day he watched the caterpillar and brought it new plants to eat.

One day the caterpillar climbed up the stick and started acting strangely. The boy worriedly called his mother who came and understood that the caterpillar was creating a cocoon. The mother explained to the boy how the caterpillar was going to go through a metamorphosis and become a butterfly.

The little boy was thrilled to hear about the changes his caterpillar would go through. He watched every day, waiting for the butterfly to emerge. One day it happened, a small hole appeared in the cocoon and the butterfly started to struggle to come out.

At first the boy was excited, but soon he became concerned. The butterfly was struggling so hard to get out! It looked like it couldn’t break free! It looked desperate! It looked like it was making no progress!

The boy was so concerned he decided to help. He ran to get scissors, . He then carefully and so patiently snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and then the butterfly quickly emerged!

As the butterfly came out the boy was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand.

But neither happened!

The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with shriveled wings

It never was able to fly.

As the boy tried to figure out what had gone wrong his mother took him to talk to a scientist from a local college. He learned that the butterfly was SUPPOSED to struggle. In fact, the butterfly’s struggle to push its way through the tiny opening of the cocoon pushes the fluid out of its body and into its wings. Without the struggle, the butterfly would never, ever fly. The boy’s good intentions hurt the butterfly.


As you go through life, keep in mind that struggling is an important part of any growth experience. In fact, it is the struggles that causes you to develop your ability to fly.