Of course it is nice when life hands us things on a plate, preferably with a spoon and fork, maybe followed by dessert. But how would that make us stronger? Unless we experience the value of struggling, how can we realize our true potential?
♥
A kind man once came across the cocoon of a butterfly in his garden. He’d watch it from time to time. One day, he was delighted to see a tiny opening in the cocoon. As he watched, he saw the caterpillar struggle to force its body through the little hole. Then it stopped.
It seemed as if it had given up after trying hard and couldn’t go any further. The man, feeling sorry for the soon-to-be butterfly, decided to help it. He took a pair of scissors and carefully snipped off the cocoon, to allow the butterfly to emerge, easily.
However, the butterfly’s body was swollen and its wings were small and shriveled. Feeling pleased with himself, the man watched the butterfly, expecting it to spread its wings at any moment and flit around.
Sadly, nothing happened.
What happened was this: for the rest of its life, the butterfly crawled around uncomfortably and painfully with its swollen body and shriveled wings that never developed.
It could never fly!
The kind man, in his hurry to help had no idea that the tight cocoon and the struggle were nature’s way to force the fluid out of the caterpillar’s body, so that the butterfly emerged beautiful, with wings to support itself and ready for flight.
♥
Sometimes, we need to embrace our struggles and obstacles in life to become stronger.
Without them, we might end up being crippled—emotionally, physically, mentally.
And then we would never fly.
We need to go through tough situations to learn how strong we truly are.
What do you think?
#WednesdayWisdom is a series with short bursts of easy-to-consume wisdom in the form of stories, quotes, anecdotes, and humor.
8 comments
Wisdom comes from experiencing strife……
I remember this parable from my youth. ~grin~ It’s a tough lesson. Thank you for sharing.
Yes, struggles are necessary for growth and learnings from these tough times helps to be successful. But what if the struggles are never ending?
When they seem never ending, maybe it is time to take stock and figure out why 🙂 After all, the answer usually is in our own actions.
Oh so true, it is struggles in life that makes us value it all. Surely with thes struggles, we take things for granted, seldom appreciate the goodness of what we have achieved.
Such a valuable lesson. Without struggle success never tastes sweet.
I agree with this so much. Sometimes I think people get too much and wonder how much s5rength does one need but there is a reason. I have met some people who seemed to have the life with t(e golden spoon in their mouth. These people have not grown, in fact, they are often judgemental, condescending and, when anything does happen, they don’t know how to deal with it. They almost seem repressed in any growth. It’s a shame actually.
This is the perfect story on how efforts make us stronger. 🙂