Delicate butterflies offer a life-changing lesson: there is strength in struggle.
The powerful story below reminds you to sit on your hands when you want to ‘help’ by telling others what to do and how to do it.
The Butterfly Story (Author Unknown)
I was jogging one evening in the park and came to rest by a large rock. There I noticed a cocoon on the tree close by. At that very moment, a butterfly was emerging from the cocoon. As I watched the butterfly struggle, I got and idea. “Gee, this is a tremendous symbol for what I do as a minister and counselor: help people out of their bonds. I help them fly.”
So I reached up and very carefully began helping the butterfly escape the small hole he had eaten in the cocoon. I laid it on the rock close by and watched as the butterfly started to stretch its wings. I felt very happy about stumbling upon this miraculous scene. I decided to use this story as the subject for my next sermon. I was excited by this thought, and before the day was out, I had completed the sermon.
That same evening when I was running, I stopped by the same rock again. I saw the cocoon, and sure enough, the butterfly was off the rock and had fallen to the ground. I was stunned. I thought perhaps a bird or another insect had attacked it. But I examined it, and there didn’t seem to be anything damaged on the butterfly. It was just dead.
I was very upset about this. I went home to look in my encyclopedias to try and determine what had happened. I found out that it’s the struggle the butterfly makes by forcing its way out of its cocoon and eating its way through its own bounds that enables it to gain enough strength to emerge whole and strong. The very act of fighting its way through the cocoon is what gives it the strength to fly.
Because I tried to help by assisting the butterfly out of its cocoon it only made matters worse.
I limited the butterfly’s ability and strength. The butterfly was unable to fly on its own. By helping too much, I enabled the butterfly out of its bounds, yes. But in the process, I had killed it. The sense of my sermon changed. I began to realize that people must not only be willing but also must do the work themselves to become more whole and complete.
(From Conscious Communication by Miles Sherts, pg 67)