The Butterfly Minute

Unneeded help isn't really help.

One afternoon while working around his yard, a man spotted a cocoon. Looking closely, he noticed that something was struggling to get through a very small hole in the cocoon.

He sat and watched for several minutes before he was certain that what he was seeing was a butterfly attempting to get through the hole in the cocoon. As he watched, the insect inside the cocoon pushed and twisted but could not squeeze its way through the hole since the hole was smaller than the body of the butterfly.

Intending to help the butterfly emerge, the man took his pocketknife and very carefully cut the hole larger so the butterfly could pass through the opening. The butterfly emerged easily with no effort at all. However, the butterfly had a body that was far too big to permit its undeveloped wings to lift it.

The man waited with hope that the butterfly would continue to transform but this never happened. The butterfly needed to struggle to squeeze its body through the small opening. In the struggle, the wings would gain strength and the body would become smaller. Without this struggle the butterfly never developed into a beautiful insect that could fly from flower to flower. In fact, it died quickly, never able to develop.

The attempt to remove difficulties from the emerging insect left it unable to develop and grow in its next stage of life.

Sometimes you, like the butterfly, will find yourself struggling to make it through a difficult assignment or decision. What will happen if someone older steps in and does it for you? What will happen if you let someone else carry your load? If you work hard, you can emerge a stronger and better person prepared for an even brighter future.