Today I heard this story in Church and I thought of all the parents that have lost a child and their struggles with grief.
"A man spent hours watching a butterfly struggling to emerge from its cocoon. It managed to make a small hole, but its body was too large to get through it. After a long struggle, it appeared to be exhausted and remained absolutely still.
The man decided to help the butterfly and, with a pair of scissors, he cut open the cocoon, thus releasing the butterfly. However, the butterfly’s body was very small and wrinkled and its wings were all crumpled.
The man continued to watch, hoping that, at any moment, the butterfly would open its wings and fly away. Nothing happened; in fact, the butterfly spent the rest of its brief life dragging around its shrunken body and shriveled wings, incapable of flight.
What the man, in his kindness and haste did not understand, was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required to get through the tiny opening were God's way of forcing fluid from the body of the butterfly into its wings. It would then be ready for flight once it achieved its freedom from the cocoon.
I immediately thought that the cocoon was such a strong symbolism for the grief of a parent. In the beginning all is dark; we are frozen in time, existing but not really alive. But slowly and when we are ready: emerge from our dark exhausting state of being called grief. As grieving parents we push through - laboring through the many stages of grief; fighting to get back to the living. Then one day and only in our due time, for there is no rushing grief; we hear ourselves laugh, hear the birds sing and learn to live again.
God Bless all parents who have lost a child.
Refection
"So do not fear, for I am with you: do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."
Well said my friend....
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