BUTTERFLY SEASON

"What if I fall? Oh but darling, what if you fly?" Erin Hanson

The world delights in beauty,

But rarely acknowledges the struggle of transformation.

Change is rarely steadfast,

Or a singular occurance.

Often there's no big revelations,

Leaving you questioning if you're deserving.

Riding the adrenaline highs,

Plunging into the shallows,

Clamoring to be loved,

Uncovering where you belong.

In seasons of loneliness and isolation,

That's where you earn your wings.

What if the change you're avoiding,

is the place where your soul learns to soar?

You deserve to bloom in brilliant color,

Every fall is a chance to rise.

The deception of one season ending,

Is the magic of a new beginning.

We are all a little fragile,

when navigating dark phases of life.

You are brave.

You are kind.

Your are smart.

You are strong.

Give yourself time.

I pray you have strength and courage,

To hold space for what is yet to come.

You're complete even when you're in pieces.

Behind you lie all the memories,

Ahead only hopes and dreams.

Take a deep breath to pause and make peace.

Collect your thoughts and remember,

Perhaps the butterfly is evidence,

Even in the greatest darkness,

Something more beautiful is born.

Until you develop your wings,

You have no concept of how far you can fly.

You future is more than ever expected,

One small step from a totally different era.

It's not over unless you stop trying,

Lean exuberantly into a new chapter.

The apex of despondent pages,

Metamorphosing into the realization,

God's not done with you yet.

EMH2024

Sometimes we find inspiration in the most unlikely places. My sister and I recently visited Butterflies in the Garden. Then, a dear friend shared the following story of the butterfly’s struggle which inspired this power poem.

A man once 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 way through a cocoon little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had advanced as far as it could go and would not make it out.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of sciccors and snippend the remaining bit of the cocoon and 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 its swollen body. 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 by beating its wings in the restricted cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to escpae through the tiny opening, were natures way of forcing fluid (strength) from the body of the butterfly to build its wings, so that it would be able to fly.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our life. If we are allowed to go through life free of any obstacles, it would only cripple us.

We would never be as strong as we could have been.

Thus we could never fly.