We delight in the beauty of the butterfly, but rarely admit the changes it has gone through to achieve that beauty - Maya Angelou 


This is one of my favorite quotations.  I have it on a plaque in my office, visible to me always.   It reminds me of myself and every other beautiful soul I have encountered who seeks to better themselves.  The 'over-night sensations' these people seem to be ~ one day they are here on the scene and every thing about them begs for you to take notice ~ when in fact, they have been there all along.  Perhaps you didn't recognize them before they earned their wings?  They were paying their dues, struggling and seeking, losing everything including themselves only to gain so much more in the process.   We forget all the work that goes into becoming an overnight sensation.  We only relish and celebrate the person we see in front of us today.

Would you be willing to sacrifice the temporary for the long range plans and goals you have?  Temporary comfort is fleeting I have found.  Things and people change from moment to moment.   There is a point when sitting still is wonderful - happy moments - the birth of a child, the celebration of marriage, graduations, and birthdays.  Beyond that, we are always moving.  Some are moving backwards; looking forever in the past, wishing life would give them back something they lost or took for granted.  Others are moving forward; hesitantly at first, then more steadily because they realize there is no going back, there is no retrieving what is lost.  The good old days are over and trying to evoke them again and again will only lead to more frustration and unhappiness.

In order to become a butterfly the caterpillar must wait, unseen by the world, in its chrysalis.  Wings are formed, their mouth is changed from one that chews food to one that is able to drink nectar.  In time, it emerges, squeezed out, from its protective shell back into the world from which it retreated, completely transformed into a new creature.  It pauses only to dry its new wings and then flutters away, its beauty readily evident in flight.  How we delight in this metamorphosis when we are able to behold it!

Yet my question is this:  would you be willing to change some things in your life to take such flight?   Would you be willing to shed the unwanted in favor of such beauty?  Would you risk retreating into a chrysalis, not knowing yet how breathtaking the end result may be?  

I know I am willing.  Who is with me?