The Chrysalis

One day a young woman saw a chrysalis hanging from a branch. She sat and watched it. It was a beautiful shade of light green. As she watched, a small opening appeared. She sat and watched the chrysalis for several hours as an insect struggled to force its body through that little hole. Then it seemed to stop making any progress. It appeared as if it had gotten as far as it could and could go no further. She could see the faint colouring of what would be a beautiful butterfly! So she decided to help the butterfly. She took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the chrysalis and the butterfly then emerged easily! She felt so good that she had helped the butterfly emerge.

But then she noticed that it had a swollen body and small shriveled wings.

She continued to watch the butterfly because she expected that, at any moment, the wings would enlarge and expand to be able to support the body, which would contract in time. But 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 woman in her kindness and haste did not understand for the transformation that was occurring inside the chrysalis was a mysterious process whereby the insect was digesting itself from the inside and then emerging only when the time was right. And the restricting chrysalis and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were 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 chrysalis. And she could not rush this process.

Such is growth. Such is transformation. Such is healing. And none of it can be rushed.