Once upon a time in a land far far away. There was a wonderful old man who loved everything. Animals, spiders, insects ~ One day while walking through the woods the nice old man found a cocoon. Feeling lonely he decided to take the cocoon home to watch its beautiful transformation from a funny little cocoon to a beautiful butterfly. He gently placed the cocoon on his kitchen and table, and watched over it for days. Suddenly on the seventh day the cocoon started to move. It moved frantically! The old man felt sorry for the little butterfly inside the cocoon. He watched it struggle and struggle and struggle! Finally the old man feeling so sorry for the cocooned butterfly rushed to its aide with a surgical scalpel and gently slit the cocoon so the butterfly could emerge. Just one slice was all it took, and the butterfly broke free from its cocoon only to wilt over in a completely motionless state. The old man did not know what to think. Had he accidentally killed the little butterfly? No, its still moving a little bit.! Maybe its sick! Who the heck would know? He was dumbfounded, and quite perplexed!What should I do, he said.Well he felt so sorry for the little creature that he decided the best thing he could do for the butterfly was to place it gently back into its cocoon. He did so, and placed a drop of honey on it to seal the cocoon, leaving the butterfly to nestle in its natural state. Well the next day he noticed that dad-blame cocoon was moving again. Wow, he said! It moved and moved and struggled and struggled.Finally the butterfly broke free from its cocoon and stretched its wings out far and wide. Big time yawn!Its beautiful wings were filled with wonderful colors! It looked around and took off! It was flying! Its so beautiful! The old man was jumping with joy! Wow!
Go Baby, Go! And that wonderful butterfly did that just that, it flew and flew till it was almost out of the old mans sight. What a joy, he exclaimed! But then he started to think.What did I do wrong by trying to help that beautiful little butterfly out at first? The old man went into town.Found the library, and read every book he could on butterflies and cocoons. Finally the answer appeared. The butterfly has to struggle and struggle while inside the cocoon. That's how it gets its strength. That's just what they are designed to overcome in order to be strong and beautiful. Well needless to say the old man was shocked, saddened, and somewhat relieved. Now he knows the reason why they do what they do. It was only his perception that made it appear that the butterfly was having a hard time. Well from then on the old man knew that loving something sometimes means to pray for it and cheer it on! He realized that God was wonderful, and that sometimes appearances aren't what they seem to be. That we all are beautiful butterflies, even though we have our apparent struggles in life ~
~Love Is Patient, Love Is Kind ~
It Does Not Envy,It Does Not Boast,
It Is Not Proud ~
It Is Not Rude ~
It Is Not Self-Seeking ~
It Is Not Easily Angered.. ~
It Keeps No Record Of Wrongs ~
Love Does Not Delight In Evil ~
But Rejoices With The Truth... ~
It Always Protects ~
Always Trusts ~
Always Hopes ~
Always Perseveres ~
Love Never Fails ~
~ 1 Corinthians 13:4-8 ~
Be Not Forgetful To Entertain Strangers, For By So Doing
Some Have Unwittingly Entertained Angles
~Hebrews 13:2~
~ Faith ~
"All things work together for good." ~
Sometimes that's hard to say, When all your hopes and all your dreams And plans have gone astray. ~
And though you cannot reason why Some trials fall on you ~
There are somethings hard to explain ~
And yet God's Word is true.
Most times we do the things we want,
And God just tags along ~
Then when we've made a mess of things We wonder what went wrong ~
The truth is, we have not obeyed ~
Or done the things we should And yet our God, in spite of us, Works all things for our good ~
It takes a lot of faith at times To let God have His way ~
So He can tear the idols down that we build up each day.
God has promised in His Word, All things will turn out right.
Things always turn out for the best When you are on God's side When you by faith have claimed His Son And in His death abide. And though we may not do the things Or live the life we should, Somehow the Lord will work all things Together for our good.
