Then Fly, My Friend!

"So why did you climb all the way up here to begin with?" asked the spider.

"My world was so limited down there. I wanted to see what I was missing," replied the caterpillar.

"And now all you want to do is go back down?"

"Yes, I do."

"I've been down there," said the spider. "I was just there yesterday. You see, all I need to do is float down on my web."

"That's why life is so unfair," said the caterpillar. "Some of us have so much more than others. It took me so long to get way up here. Then I was disappointed. When I was down there I had choices to make. I could go wherever I wanted and eat so many things. Up here in this tree, there is nowhere to go and these leaves all taste the same. I just want to get out of here."

"Well, head back down the tree," said the spider.

"No, it took so long to get here my life cycle is nearly over. The life of a caterpillar is so short. I would never make it back down in time to enjoy life again," said the caterpillar.

And so it is with many of us. We always want more but never sure exactly what "more" is. But we know more is never enough.

"So what will you do, my friend?" asked the spider.

"I don't know. I just want to crawl under that leaf and die," said the caterpillar.

"I can't believe you have that attitude! You have so much to offer the world, so much more you can become," said the spider. "You think that you have wasted all of this time searching for answers. I believe that all of this was necessary for you to become all you were created to be. Everything you desire you possess already. Look inside. For there lies all that you need."

"Look at me! I have too many feet, you can't tell which end is which and my color is boring. What good am I?" sighed the caterpillar. "I am tired, my friend. Please go about your business and leave me alone."

The caterpillar crawled off and curled up inside a big leaf near the end of a nearby branch. His friend the spider felt so sorry for him as he watched the caterpillar close himself off from the world. Everyday the spider would return in hope that his friend would reawaken. He would stand next to him and whisper "There is more to you than you know."

Then one day after repairing his web, the spider returned to visit his friend. He was shocked. The leaf he had curled up in was wide open. He was gone.

The spider was sad.

"I have lost my friend. I did all I could..."

"Spider, look up here. It's me, the caterpillar. You were right!"

Looking up toward the bright morning sun the spider saw the silhouette of two huge, colorful wings flapping gently in the breeze.

"Look at me! Look at what I have become!" shouted the caterpillar. "I am a magnificent butterfly! I can go any where I want now. Down there and back up here to you, my friend."

"I told you. I kept saying there was more to you than you know!"

"The answers were inside. You were right. I wanted so much to get somewhere, but I didn't know where to go or how to get there. But when I stopped, in all my frustration, I discovered I did indeed have all that I needed to become more than I was already." said the butterfly.

"So fly my friend. Fly!" said the spider. And he slowly lowered himself with his thread from the tall tree as his old friend fluttered around him.

The moral to this story?

Sometimes the answers to your problems simply require you to stop where you are, turn over a new leaf and discover all that you possess inside.

Then fly, my friend.  Fly!

~ Bob Perks ~
2believe@comcast.net

[ by: Bob Perks Copyright © 2008 (2believe@comcast.net) -- {used with permission} ]