Butterflies

My father in law recently told me about the butterfly effect. Of course I had to look it up on the internet to see if it was true. And sure enough, it said that if the conditions are right and a butterfly flutters its wings, it can start a hurricane on the other side of the world. How they prove that, I don’t know. But they did explain it on Wikipedia - so it must be true.

The very next day, my mother in law sent me a story about butterflies...

A man was observing a cocoon as a butterfly was struggling to emerge from it. When it stopped, the man wanted to help and took a small scissors and cut the butterfly free. He snipped the cocoon to make the hole bigger and the butterfly quickly emerged! As the butterfly came out the man was surprised. It had a swollen body and small, shriveled wings. He continued to watch the butterfly expecting that, at any moment, the wings would dry out, enlarge and expand to support the swollen body. He knew that in time the body would shrink and the butterfly’s wings would expand.

But neither happened.

The butterfly spent the rest of its life crawling around with a swollen body and shriveled wings.

It never was able to fly…

The man, in his kindness, thought he was helping but what he didn’t know was that nature’s way of strengthening the wings of a butterfly is through the struggle to emerge from the cocoon. By struggling, the fluid in the butterflies body is forced into the wings, giving it their strength.

There are so many examples of this – of strength coming through struggle. Even trees get their tremendous strength through withstanding the force of the wind. This was proven by an experiment to grow trees in a greenhouse. They all were soft and wilted as they didn’t have any wind resistance to develop their strength.

I asked Paul if he thought Summer was the strong one struggling through this or if it was us. It sure didn’t feel like us. Of course, Paul being the diplomat that he is said it’s both of us. All of us. “Maybe Summer will have an exceptionally strong heart since she is pumping her heart for two.” Paul said, “Kind of the what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger idea.”

I don’t know but it makes sense to me. And I think Summer will be the kind of life that has strength. Maybe it won’t be physical strength, maybe it will be emotional strength. Or spiritual strength. Or the kind of strength that her friends will draw upon when they need help. Or the kind her mom will get just by looking at her and being reminded of Summer’s struggles for life before she was even born. She has already created a powerful hurricane in our lives – besides the chaotic, stressful and anxious aspect that has come from TRAP sequence, Summer has given us a new perspective, a desire to support other parents in similar situations, and the humbling position of asking for prayer from anyone who will listen.

By helping the butterfly by easing its struggle, we actually steal its purpose in life from it. But by allowing it to go through its struggle, it is given the power to create hurricanes.

I want to be like that. I want to be that butterfly that gets through struggles and has the power, the strength in my wings, to create hurricanes. I want to not take the easy way out - in my current situation, I have no choice, but in other life situations I certainly do.

Like the man who watched that butterfly, I can take comfort in the promise that God gives us; that he won’t allow us to go through more than we can handle. He can only promise that if he is acutely aware of every single struggle that we go through. I think he is aware. And he watches. And, instead of cutting us free from our cocoon, he allows us to develop strength. The kind of strength that can start hurricanes.