Butterflies

I love butterflies. They are interesting insects. It amazes me to think that a leaf-munching creepy crawly thing could turn into a beautiful flying creature of various colors.

Tonight I was thinking about these insects (it almost seems weird to call it a bug). There is much parallelism that can be taken from them.

There are people that come into our lives and they may not be the best looking prospects. They are the, perhaps, undesirable creatures that go along and munch everything in their path. The beauty is that they can be so much more.

We bring these people into our lives and we wrap them into a cocoon. As they are wrapped in this orb, they begin to change. It could be changes in their lives, their attitudes, whatever. We watch a special metamorphis from the outside. It is gorgeous.

Then one day, the person realizes who they have become and begins to break free from the cocoon. In our own selfish way, we want the new creature to stay. However, holding on could damage its wings and prevent it from ever flying.

As it crawls out, beautiful colored wings unfold before our eyes and the creature begins to unsteadily walk and try to fly. Suddenly, as if it is second nature, it flies away. This is the hard part because you want the butterfly to know you want it to stay. You want it to know that you care for it and are willing to do whatever it takes. At the same time, you want the butterfly to know you love it enough to let it go even though you are crying on the inside because you know what its adventures will be.

There are times in our lives when a certain degree of selfishness has its place. Then there are other times when we have to let those butterflies in our lives go.

It has to go out into the "new" world and explore. It must find out who it is. It must figure out what it wants. And perhaps the very thing it seeks it right in front of it, but it doesn't know that yet. The only way we will know if what it seeks is us, is if it comes back.

We cannot confine the butterfly to its cocoon. We cannot protect it forever. We cannot inhibit it from finding out what it wants.

What we can do is trust that it will make the right decisions and support it along the way. It may not come back and that is OK. We have to want happiness for the new creature that has formed. We have to love it enough to let go and be the friend who stands by and says everything is OK, even though it isn't.

At the same time, the creature must realize that if takes too long, we may not be there when it comes back. There may be other butterflies that catch our attention. Decisions have their consequences and we will have to live with what we decide.

Sometimes it is OK to be selfish, but not if you are keeping the very thing you love from discovering itself.