A Devotional / Inspirational message from Bob Creamer

 

 THE BUTTERFLY

 

I usually do not use personal stories as illustrations but I am going to today. Sometimes life hands us disappointments or discouragements. Let me explain. Last December my wife, Marlene, had a heart cath which disclosed a blockage in the coronary artery. The doctor was able to open the blockage and install a stent. In January I had open heart surgery for a triple bypass.

   This summer Marlene had been having a lot of pain in her knee. She already has an artificial knee in the left leg. After several treatments it was determined that she was going to need to have the right one replaced. The Orthopedic Surgeon would not operate until Marlene had clearance from her cardiologist.

    After an appointment with the cardiologist another cath was indicated. A blockage was found in the same area as the original stent so another one was installed.

   As a result of some of her blood tests it was discovered that Marlene had Chronic Lymphocytic Leukemia. I am not telling you this so you will feel sorry for us. When I was reflecting on all this I was reminded of a story of a 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 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 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 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!

   Now I understand why I have large wings!

  

Barnabas Ministries 2008