Don't Shred Your Wings

Butterflies do not belong in a glass case. If they are kept in such a confined and crippling space, they will shred their wings, and die.

I know, because I have seen it.

I found a caterpillar in Autumn. I brought it inside to see if it would transform into a chrysalis, and in just a few days time, it did! I left it in a container, and just let it be, to see if anything would happen. Weeks went by, and no change. Months went by, and still nothing. I read that certain kinds of butterflies might be in the chrysalis stage all through the winter. I decided not to give up on the creature. I did not throw it out, despite the fact that it seemed dead to me, because nothing was changing, nothing was happening.

Or so I thought.

One day, in the Spring, I noticed that the chrysalis was cracked. At first I thought it was just a broken, empty tomb.

And then, I looked to the top of the container, and there it was! A beautiful butterfly! I shrieked with joy and delight that life had found a way. What I thought was dead, was very much alive, flapping its wings, and preparing to fly!

I admired the beauty of nature, and the miracle of life finding a way. 

The butterfly began to gain strength, and it started to flap its wings with more energy. It was a fascinating thing to watch. I watched for a time, and then I had to leave and go about my business of the day. When I returned, I checked out how the butterfly was doing. And that is when I discovered something heartbreaking. The butterfly had been flapping its wings, flapping so hard, that when it hit the side of the glass case, it was shredding its wings, leaving it crippled.

I was horrified!

Shredded wings on a butterfly is certain death.

There was nothing to be done, the butterfly was losing steam, and before long, the flapping stopped, and the butterfly was gone.

This was not the ending that I was hoping for! After all those months of holding onto the chrysalis, watching it miraculously turn into a butterfly, and then, death? What an awful ending to something so beautiful! I was hoping to let the butterfly go, in a symbolic moment of hope and freedom.

But instead, I learned a different lesson.

Butterflies do not belong in a glass case, and neither do I.

How often does the "glass case" keep me from doing the things I am meant to do, and become what I am meant to become? For me, the glass case is fear. Fear can inhibit me from trying new things, being adventurous, or conquering the unknown. If I give into my fears, I am "shredding my wings," and preventing flight, faith, and freedom.

I have discovered more recently that flying out of my fears is possible. Opening the lid to my glass case -- not just trying to break through the glass -- is the answer. Taking flight and soaring into the unknown is an empowering action, that demolishes doubt and worry. The more action I take, the less fearful I become, the more freedom I feel. When I remove the lid from my fears, flying away from them, I have discovered that anything is possible!

Flapping around in a state of fear shreds faith.

Spread your wings of faith, shred your fears, and fly!


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