Emerging

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 farther.

Then the man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon. The butterfly 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 was never 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. (Author Unknown)

“Does the chrysalis dream of flying?
The wing folded within
Waiting to burst forth . . .
Does the larvae become a butterfly at birth?
Or when it finally winds its way
Through the long canal it traverses as a butterfly,
Does it paint its own wings?
So you, child, while making your way
Know that you wings are waiting you,
Full of as much potential
Must go through all the phases." (Kevin F.)


Prayer of the Emerging Self
Marvelous Creator
Of the butterfly,
Set loose in me the energy
Of the new creation.
Move me out of self,
Out of self, out of self,
Out of self
Into chrysalis and
Beyond.
Seed my imagination.
Lift my wings.
Drawn by unknown scents
And different destines, let
Me rise, rise, rise
Out of the depths of
Chrysalis crisis.
Even out of death in all its forms.
(William Fitzgerald ~ “One Hundred Cranes”)