STRUGGLES MAKES US STRONGER TO STAND AGAIN

Many times in our lives, we experienced disappointments. We encounter difficulties that no matter how hard we try, we keep running into dead ends and keep failing to do the things we wanted to do. Every day, we wake up to deal with many ups and downs that will either destroy us or mold us into a better person. Life could be a struggle.

There was a story of a man and a butterfly. One day the man saw a cocoon of a butterfly. A small opening appeared. He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. So, the man decided to help the butterfly instead. He took a pair of scissors and cut off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly then emerged easily. But it had swollen body and small, shriveled wings. The man continued to watch the butterfly because he expected that the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract anytime. However, it never happened. In fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings. It was never able to fly.

The kind man did not understand 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 its 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 life. If God allowed us to go through without any obstacles, then it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly.