
I want to share a story with you today. Change can be good!
THE BUTTER FLY STORY:
Struggle is Good! I Want to Fly!
Once 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, and then walked back (because he had learned not to run with scissors…). He snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and 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 a swollen body and 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 school, and life, keep in mind that struggling is an important part of any growth experience. In fact, it is the struggle that causes you to develop your ability to fly. As instructors our gift to you is stronger wings…
MY WINGS ~
This story is powerful to me. I can relate it to my life and how I am not who I used to be. Asking God into my heart was the beginning of change. Over the years, I developed into a stronger person and I see things so differently. I see the importance of staying connected to positive people and also the importance of helping others who can't see past their hurting now of life. I have learned to look up and fly with God. I'm still in the process of change and I look forward to a new day. There is a song I heard when I was growing up and it stuck with me, "I Have Learned to Trust in Jesus". Depending upon God's word (Bible) and pressing forward my friends.
God is faithful to each of us as we turn our lives over to him. We might not like each thing we go through, but we can live with peace beyond a human understand. The JOY of the LORD is my strength ~ Nehemiah 8:10 (NIV)
GOD REMAINS THE SAME ~
Through all the changes of life, God remains the same!
Proverbs 18:10 New International Version (NIV)
The name of the Lord is a fortified tower;
the righteous run to it and are safe.
Psalm 28:7 (NIV)
The LORD is my strength and my shield; my heart trusts in him, and he helps me. My heart leaps for joy, and with my song I praise him.
My prayers continue for you, your family and friends!
~ Sparkie