The Butterfly Effect

I once heard a story about a little girl who was a lover of insects.  One day she came upon a butterfly, struggling to escape its cocoon. Not wanting to see the butterfly struggle, she took a small knife and cut the cocoon so that the butterfly to escape more easily.  She then watched the butterfly for several hours, waiting for its beautiful wings to unfurl. Much to her dismay, the butterfly's wings remained crumpled and deformed.  In her sorrow, she went to her mother to tell her the story and to ask for her help.  Her mother sat her on her knee and explained the part of the natural process of growth for the butterfly was to struggle to escape from the cocoon.  In the process of struggling to escape the cocoon, juices were forced to all parts of the butterfly's body, including the wings.  When she cut the cocoon, she had innocently interfered with the natural growth process of the butterfly.

This lesson can be helpful to us as we try to protect ourselves and those that we love from struggle.  Struggle is a natural process of growth.  Through struggle, we grow and become the beautiful person we are destined to be.  No struggle, no growth.