Butterfly and Struggle

A man 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 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 it could go no further.

So the man decided to help the butterfly. He took a pair of scissors and snipped off the remaining bit of the cocoon.

The butterfly then 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 the body, which would contract in time.

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 man, in his kindness and haste, did not understand was that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening were God'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 cocoon.

Sometimes struggles are exactly what we need in our lives. If God allowed us to go through our lives without any obstacles, it would cripple us.

We would not be as strong as what we could have been. We could never fly!

Self Confidence

The business executive was deep in debt and could see no way out. Creditors were closing in on him. Suppliers were demanding payment. He sat on the park bench, head in hands, wondering if anything could save his company from bankruptcy.

Suddenly an old man appeared before him, "I can see that something is troubling you," he said. After listening to the executive's woes, the old man said, "I believe I can help you."

He asked the man his name, wrote out a cheque, and pushed it into his hand saying, "Take this money. Meet me here exactly one year from today, and you can pay me back at that time."


Then he turned and disappeared as quickly as he had come. The business executive saw in his hand a cheque for $500,000, signed by John D. Rockefeller, then one of the richest men in the world!

"I can erase my money worries in an instant!" he realized. But instead, the executive decided to put the uncashed cheque in his safe. Just knowing it was there might give him the strength to work out a way to save his business, he thought.

With renewed optimism, he negotiated better deals and extended terms of payment. He closed several big sales. Within a few months, he was out of debt and making money once again.

Exactly one year later, he returned to the park with the uncashed cheque. At the agreed-upon time, the old man appeared. But just as the executive was about to hand back the cheque and share his success story, a nurse came running up and grabbed the old man.

"I'm so glad I caught him!" she cried. "I hope he hasn't been bothering you.  He's always escaping from the rest home and telling people he's John D. Rockefeller." And she led the old man away by the arm 

The astonished executive just stood there, stunned. All year long he'd been wheeling and dealing, buying and selling, convinced he had half a million dollars behind him.

Suddenly, he realized that it wasn't the money, real or imagined, that had turned his life around. It was his newfound self-confidence that gave him the power to achieve his targets.

Most of the time it is not the money in the bank that helps us tide through rough times but belief in ourselves. So start believing in yourselves and work towards your goals…

Lateral Thinking

Many years ago in a small Indian village, a farmer had the  misfortune of owing a large sum of money to a village moneylender. The  moneylender, who was old and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful daughter. So  he proposed a bargain. He said he would forgo the farmer's debt if he could  marry his daughter. 
Both the farmer and his daughter were horrified by the  proposal. So the cunning money-lender suggested that they let providence decide  the matter.

He told them that he would put a black pebble and a white pebble  into an empty money bag. Then the girl would have to pick one pebble from the  bag. If she picked the black pebble, she would become his wife and her father's  debt would be forgiven. If she picked the white pebble she need not marry him  and her father's debt would still be forgiven. But if she refused to pick a  pebble, her father would be thrown into jail. 
All the villagers were standing  on a pebble strewn path in the farmer's field. As they talked, the moneylender  bent over to pick up two pebbles.

As he picked them up, the sharp-eyed girl  noticed that he had picked up two black pebbles and put them into the bag. He  then asked the girl to pick a pebble from the bag. Now, imagine you were  standing in the field. 
What would you have done if you were the girl? If you  had to advise her, what would you have told her? 
Careful analysis would  produce three possibilities: 
1. The girl should refuse to take a  pebble. 
2. The girl should show that there were two black pebbles in the bag  and expose the money-lender as a cheat. 
3. The girl should pick a black  pebble and sacrifice herself in order to save her father from his debt and  imprisonment. 
Take a moment to ponder over the story. The above story is used  with the hope that it will make us appreciate the difference between lateral and  logical thinking. 
The girl's dilemma cannot be solved with traditional  logical thinking. 
Think of the consequences if she chooses the above logical  answers. 
What would you recommend to the Girl to do?
.. 
.. 
.. 
  Well, what she did was : 
The girl put her hand  into the moneybag and drew out a pebble. Without looking at it, she fumbled and  let it fall onto the pebble-strewn path where it immediately became lost among  all the other pebbles. 
"Oh, how clumsy of me," she said. "But never mind, if  you look into the bag for the one that is left, you will be able to tell which  pebble I picked." 
Since the remaining pebble is black, it must be assumed  that she had picked the white one. And since the money-lender dared not admit  his dishonesty, the girl changed what seemed an impossible situation into an  extremely advantageous one. 

 
MORAL OF THE STORY: Most complex problems do have  a solution. It is only that we don't attempt to  think. 

Understand the problem first

One fine day, a bus driver went to the bus garage, started his bus, and drove off along the route. No problems for the first few stops.

At the next stop, however, a big hulk of a guy got on. Six feet height, built like a wrestler, arms hanging down to the ground. He glared at the driver and said, "Big John doesn't pay!" and sat down at the back. Naturally, he didn't argue with Big John, but he wasn't happy about it.

 The next day the same thing happened-Big John got on again, made a show of refusing to pay, and sat down. The next day also he said the same and this had become a routine. The bus driver, who started losing sleep over the way Big John, was taking advantage of him.

 Finally he could stand it no longer. He signed up for body building courses, karate, judo, and all that good stuff. By the end of the summer, he had become quite strong.

So, on the next Monday, when Big John once again got on the bus and said, "Big John doesn't pay!,"

 The driver stood up, glared back at the passenger, and screamed, "And why not?"

 With a surprised look on his face, Big John replied, "Big John has a bus pass."

 Moral of the story: "Be sure there is a problem in the first place before working hard to solve one."