The story is told of a quite happy caterpillar who found that his life was
changing. He noticed that things weren’t like they used to be. Finally one
day he began to crawl out of his skin. He was quite surprised to see that
though he was changing, he was still okay. Soon he found himself a beautiful butterfly.
He was no longer bound to the trails of the earth below, but could fly on the winds above. He was no longer the ordinary looking caterpillar, but was now a beautiful butterfly. He soared above, looking down on the old shell that was still down below. He thought how lucky he was to have made such a marvelous change.
As he looked below, he saw some of his old caterpillar friends, crawling
slowly across the old trails that he had walked. They found his old shell
and began to weep. He tried to shout to them that all was well, that he was
even happier, but he did not seem to be able to reach them. From his lofty
position, he looked down on those he had left behind and watched as they
gathered around his discarded shell and wept.
He could not tell, them, but leaving the old shell behind was not the end,
it was just the beginning of the real beauty that God had in store for him.
He knew that someday, they would join him and understand that caterpillars don‘t die, they just become beautiful butterflies.
Anon