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 that the restricting cocoon and the struggle required  for the butterfly to get through the tiny opening. Allah (God) gives the 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 Allah 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!                             |