We are often jealous of those who have life easier, or at least they appear to have it so. When, in reality, those who are born in wealth and with fewer barriers in their way may never properly mature the way God meant us to. When I think of all the things I have learned from the hardships I have struggled with in my life, I wouldn’t change a thing. Yet, as I look back at the time I was engaged in those hardships, I can remember thinking how I wished I didn’t have to do what I was doing. Or, I would think of how glad I would be when that day would be over or when that miserable job would be done. Life’s struggles are what fashions us into what we ultimately become. Each of our life’s struggles may be somewhat different and/or the way that we experience those struggles will be different and that is one of the reasons we are each unique.
It is important and optimal for a fetus to remain in its mother’s womb full term so that it will mature and be strong enough for the birth process and exposure to the world. It is important, too, for all who have survived the birth process, to struggle through life in order for each of us to mature and grow so that we may be prepared for the next step in our eternal progression. We might view this earth experience as a different kind of womb; a womb where we may be growing and maturing for our next birth (called death) that God has prepared for us.
There is a story about a man who found a cocoon. Curiosity caused him to watch the cocoon day after day, then one day a small opening appeared: He sat and watched the butterfly for several hours as it struggled to force its body through the little opening. 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. The man decided to help the butterfly, so he took a pair of scissors and snipped off a little more of the remaining 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 body would contract and the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body in flight.
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 but- terfly to get through the tiny opening was nature at work. It was nature’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 necessary to prepare us for life. If nature allowed us to go through life without any obstacles, it would cripple us. We would not be as strong as the struggles may have made us.
One might also view this life as a cocoon, a human cocoon where we must, according to a divine plan, struggle to free ourselves. When we finally come to the end of our struggle we emerge from the cocoon and fly into eternity with our wings strong and beautiful. The cocoon is temporarily laid aside and buried in the earth.
If the above scenario were true, we would not want anyone to make it easy for us by, in a sense, snipping our cocoons. For we would understand that, in so doing, they would be impeding our eternal destiny.