Becoming Butterfly - Trina Paulus

One day a grey-haired caterpillar hanging upside down on a branch, surprised Yellow. He seemed caught in some hairy stuff. "You seem in trouble," she said. "Can I help?"

"No, my dear, I have to do this to become a butterfly."

Her whole insides leapt. "Butterfly - that word," she thought. "Tell me, sir, what is a butterfly?"

"It's what you are meant to become. It flies with beautiful wings and joins the earth to heaven. It drinks only the nectar from flowers and carries the seeds of love from one flower to another. Without butterflies the world would soon have few flowers."

"It can't be true!" gasped Yellow. "How can I believe there's a butterfly inside you or me when all I see is fuzzy worm? How does one become a butterfly?"
"You must want to fly so much that you are willing to give up being a caterpillar."

"You mean to die?" asked Yellow, remembering the three who fell out of the sky.

"Yes and no," he answered. "What looks like you will die, but really you will still live. Life is changed, not taken away. Isn't that different from those who die without ever becoming butterflies?"

"And if I decide to become a butterfly," said Yellow hesitantly, "what do I do?"

"Watch me. I'm making a cocoon. It looks like I'm hiding but a cocoon is no escape. It's an in-between house where the change takes place. It's a big step since you can never return to caterpillar life. During the change, it will seem to you and to anyone who might peek that nothing is happening - but a butterfly is becoming."

"It just takes time."

From "Hope For Flowers" by Trina Paulus