The cocoon

Today was one of those days.  Some one I know and I am super happy for announced that they are expecting.  They started trying last month.  So I was starting to have a selfish moment of why me? and my sweet friend Molly sent this to me.  I thought it was just what I needed so I had to share. 

The Cocoon
One day a small opening appeared on a cocoon, a man sat and watched for
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 it could go no
further.
So the man decided 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 its 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 the the
restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butter fly 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 our life without any obstacles, it would
cripple us. We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We
could never fly.

"Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many
kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops
perseverance." (James 1:2-3)