Life Is the Best Beautiful Hope
蝴蝶的翅膀
Butterfly's Wings
佚名 / Anonymous
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, shrivelled 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 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.
I asked for strength
And God gave me difficulties to make me strong.
I asked for wisdom
And God gave me problems to solve.
I asked for courage
And God gave me danger to overcome.
I asked for love
And God gave me troubled people to help.
I received nothing I wanted.
I received everything I needed.
一天，有一個蠶繭上麵出現了一道裂縫。一個人坐在那兒，好幾個小時裏，他看著蝴蝶掙紮著穿破小小的縫隙，試圖擠出來。然而，它看起來毫無進展，似乎已竭盡全力，無法往前再邁一步。於是，這個人決定幫蝴蝶一把。他拿來一把剪刀，剪破蠶繭的其他部分後，蝴蝶輕易地破繭而出。
然而，蝴蝶的身體腫脹，翅膀小且皺巴巴的，沒有展開。這個人繼續觀察蝴蝶，他希望在某一刻，蝴蝶的翅膀能夠展開張大，身體慢慢縮小，最終翅膀能夠支撐身體飛起來。但他始終沒有看到這一幕。事實上，這隻蝴蝶隻能拖著腫脹的身體和皺褶的翅膀，爬行著度過它的餘生，再也飛不起來。這個急躁而好心的人並不知道，束縛蝴蝶的蠶繭，穿過狹小的縫隙所需的掙紮，都是上帝的安排。在那個過程中，蝴蝶將體內的水分擠到翅膀裏，作好起飛的準備，一旦它突破蠶繭獲得自由，就能飛翔。