Sunday, May 10, 2015

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS


Once upon a time there lived a caterpillar that kept complaining and cribbing the whole day on something or the other. Everyday it’s mom (beautiful butterfly) would bring leaves to the caterpillar. The caterpillar will eat the leaves and start bombarding his mom with a list of complains. It asked the butterfly: “How come you are so beautiful and I am not? Why am I having these ugly thorns on my back? Why can’t I fly like you? Why do I have to crawl and go?... “ and the list goes on never ending.

The butterfly with utmost calmness told the caterpillar that ,“You are born to become a butterfly” and the mother butterfly will continue “Have you ever appreciated this cozy little leaf house you are in which I have made for you and the heaps of leaves I bring everyday to the house which will help you grow into a butterfly? You are living a king’s life! Why do you crib?” The caterpillar replied,” But I am not happy. I am not beautiful like you”. The butterfly told, “In that case it is time for you to go out and realize your self-worth. But remember to thank God whenever you feel gifted.” The caterpillar accepted to explore and moved out of that house. As it was crawling by, on the way it saw a sparrow eating another caterpillar. Seeing that, it hid immediately under a leaf nearby and then told “ Thank you God for giving me this life”. Then it slowly climbed down the tree and met an earthworm. The caterpillar asked it: “Why do you have to dig such a big hole and live inside when the nature is so fresh outside?” . The earthworm replied:”It is not possible for me to tolerate the heat of the sun or the coldness in the night. So I have to go inside the earth where the temperature is optimum. Look! I don’t have any fur like you on my body”. The caterpillar told:” Thank you God for giving me my fur.”

As the caterpillar was crawling further, it started to rain and the caterpillar got stuck to the mud and was absolutely helpless and got clueless on what to do. It just closed its eyes and thought about the cozy leaf house in the interior trunk of the tree where nothing could ever disturb it and told “ Thank you God for that cozy house you had given me”. The rain stopped and the sun peeped out and dried all the water. The caterpillar opened its eyes and saw that the world was completely different to it. All the big trees had been rooted out by the storm and the place was absolutely deserted. It turned back to find that the tree it had been living so long had also been rooted out. The caterpillar thanked God for saving it’s life the second time. Now it started moving ahead and realized that it could crawl freely and it said” Thank you God that I could crawl”. It had been a long day and the storm and rain had washed out all the leaves and hunger had conquered the caterpillar by now. When the caterpillar was dying of hunger, there came a fresh leaf flying in the wind and landed just next to it. The caterpillar got amused by it and said: “ Thank you God for giving me this meal at this hour of need” and started to feed on it. After a whole hearted meal, the caterpillar asked himself “When I am gifted so much, what am I doing with it? Why am I given this life? Who am I?”. With loads of traffic thoughts in mind, it crawled non -stop and finally reached a small plant that had withstood the storm and the rain just because of its size. It saw another caterpillar on that plant and asked “What are you doing on this small plant?”. The other Caterpillar told: “ I am feeding myself on this plant and growing in all dimensions so that one fine day, I become a beautiful butterfly and fly from one tree to another and fulfill my purpose of moving pollen from one place to another and watch the colourful flowers bloom.” Hearing this the caterpillar got enlightened and thanked God saying:” Dear God, I was wondering why you had taken away the opportunities of all big trees in my life through the storm. But now I realize that I still have to grow to reach the top of the tree. Thank you God for this opportunity to grow in my life. And, I understand that my purpose in life is to make beautiful flowers bloom.” Realizing this, the caterpillar stuck itself to the small plant that gave it the opportunity to grow when all other options before it was shut and started to grow holding on to it. And one fine day it realized that, its wings have grown at its back and it had become a butterfly as its mom used to tell it. And then with loads of excitement, it slowly slighted its grip from the plant and soon realized that it was happy out in the air flying. And it shouted “ Wow.. I am a butterfly today. Thank you God for making me a butterfly”.

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