Inspirational Short Story, Female Fantasy Art, Relaxing Music

Everything has its wonders, even darkness and silence,

and I learn whatever state I may be in,

therein to be content.

-- Helen Keller

Close observation of small children playing, ants moving across a dirt mound, a bird building a nest, a plane flying overhead, tomatoes ripening in a garden are quiet reminders of the many miracles surrounding us at any moment.

Often we may wonder just how a carrot grows from a small seed.

What enables a robin to fly south in the winter without getting lost?

And then we remember the power of the Creator, and the presence of that power everywhere.

Just as the squirrel knows to collect nuts for winter, each of us knows we're always being watched over by God.

When we remember that, we feel safe and happy wherever we are, at school, a new friend's house, home alone in the evening.

Every moment is full of wonder, and God is always present.

"Oh, 'tis love, 'tis love,

that makes the world go round! Somebody said,"

Alice whispered, "that it's done by everybody

minding their own business.

Ah well! It means much the same thing."

-- Lewis Carroll

No one helps a caterpillar become a butterfly. First it must crawl through the leaves as a many-legged creature, and then it weaves its own cocoon.

Nature does its slow, daily work inside the cocoon and one day a butterfly emerges -- and each butterfly is a different shape and color.

No other creature can step in and speed up this process without hurting the butterfly.

Sometimes we humans confuse love with playing the part of God.

We think we can speed up the natural growth of people around us.

We interfere by telling them to do what we think best.

Sometimes the greatest love we can offer is to accept our loved ones the way they are.

We need to remember that each caterpillar weaves a cocoon in its own time and becomes a butterfly in its own way.

The wisdom of the universe is greater than our own.

To render ourselves insensible to pain

we must forfeit also the possibilities of happiness.

-- Sir John Lubbock

A caterpillar knows instinctively that it must spin a cocoon.

When finished it will use the protection it has made to turn itself into a beautiful butterfly.

When the time is right, the butterfly will break through the cocoon and stretch its wings to meet the world.

We sometimes protect ourselves by withdrawing into a cocoon of our own.

We stop talking to others and find ourselves growing lonely and longing for our friends.

Perhaps it was some pain that made us retreat, but the pain of loneliness is greater.

When we have the courage to break out of our cocoon, knowing and accepting the fact that we will experience both pain and happiness, we will change.

We will become, for that moment, something new and beautiful like the butterfly.

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03/01/2014

Dividers from Gran Gran's (dead link 06/22/11)