Lessons from the cocoon

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

The butterfly only becomes beautiful in the confines of a cocoon.  We tend to forget that.  We tend to forget that it was wrapped up and underwent a metamorphosis that ushered in its beauty.  But it's the only way.
And so it is with us.  Within the confines of painful and altering situations we undergo a metamorphosis that ushers in our own beauty (yes even you men!).  But just like with the butterfly we tend to forget that.  We forget that it is through the refining process that we become beautiful in character.  It is in that cocoon-type process that we shed the things that hold us back from being free to fly.  Tough things have a way of removing whatever is in the way of our freedom to be who we are.
What would happen if caterpillars refused to enter their cocoon?  We would have no butterflies.  We would be lacking in the beauty of them as well as whatever purpose they serve (I know they serve one but I'm not about to go do research on that right now).  Same goes for us.  What if we refuse, and we do, to enter into the cocoon of refining?  We would be stuck, inching along the ground, unable to contribute to the world we've been placed in.  We would deprive the world of our beautiful spirit and of whatever purpose we are hear to serve, for we are all here to serve some purpose (I don't need to research that to know it is true).  The metamorphosis of the cocoon ushers in beauty and purpose, embrace it.