BUTTERFLIES

May 16, 2019

For those of you who have not read my book, I would just like to give you a little background information, so you can appreciate my post.

So one dreary day soon after my son Joey died, I decided to take a walk down Valleytown Park, hoping it would help me to feel even a little bit better. One of the best things that happened during that walk, was a photo I was lucky enough to capture, of a beautiful monarch butterfly, sitting on some pink flowers growing along the river. So I shared this experience with my friend Sabrina. She told me that some believe that butterflies are symbols of rebirth or new life. She felt that my encounter with it was a symbol of Joey’s rebirth/new life at wherever we go after we die. Needless to say, from that moment on, visits by butterflies would always make me feel that Joey was just stopping by to tell me he was ok.

So soon after, Sabrina emailed me this story by an unknown author titled  “Butterfly. ” I was so touched by it and it’s relevance to what I was going through at the time. So I decided to frame copies of both my photo and the story together, as a gift which I gave to a few close family members. My framed treasure still hangs on my living room wall.

I decided to share this poem today, because just as the butterfly needs to struggle to get out of its cocoon to emerge as its beautiful self, so do we sometimes have to struggle in order to emerge a stronger person. I feel it’s a beautiful representation for those of us who have lost a child or anyone we love. It reminds us that although we may have to struggle after the death of our loved one, we can survive and become an even stronger person. There can be beauty and happiness again in our life after the death of our loved one.

I hope you enjoy this amazing story.

BUTTERFLY

A man found a cocoon of a butterfly. One day a small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force it’s body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could, and it could go no further. So to help the butterfly, he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. Neither happened! In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of it’s life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It never was able to fly. What the man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening, were God’s way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into it’s wings, so that it would be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly.

I asked for Strength……..And God gave me Difficulties to make me strong.

I asked for Wisdom……..And God gave me Problems to solve.       

I asked for Prosperity……..And God gave me Brain and Brawn to work.

I asked for Courage……..And God gave me Danger to overcome.

I asked for Love……..And God gave me Troubled people to help.

I asked for Favors……..And God gave me Opportunities.

I received nothing I wanted……..I received everything I needed!

May God Bless You with unspeakable joy, not only in the world to come, but in this world also. May your path be bright and full of light everywhere you go. And, I pray your feet will never stumble out of God’s plan. May the desires of your heart come true, and may you experience Peace in everything you do. May Goodness, Kindness, and Mercy come your way. And, may you gain Wisdom and grow in the Lord everyday.

Please send this blessing to those you care about. It may be just what they need to hear, at just the right  time. God bless you !

AUTHOR  UNKNOWN