Of Butterflies

What does a Monarch butterfly feel when it's all bound up in it's chrysalis? Does it know?

Does it know that it was once a caterpillar, a homely insect, squat and striped with all those little legs? Does it know that it won't always be fettered and folded up like that? Does it feel safe? Or is it afraid? Afraid of being stuck tightly inside, never to get out? Does it know that in only a week or two, it will hatch out, and spread brilliant, bright orange wings and take flight? Does it know?

I do think butterflies are amazing creatures, to go from one thing, from being and existing and living as a caterpillar and then to become quite another thing. Existing as a vibrant, delicate creature - a butterfly. To have two lives, two completely different lives. It is truly a miracle and a wonder.

Still really, are butterflies afraid when they are waiting for that moment to come, that moment when they become something new?

Sometimes I feel bound so tightly to failure or to mediocrity or to fear. I feel trapped and alone. I know who I am. I know. And yet, I feel like I'm hemmed in on all sides. Maybe I know change is coming, that I'll be reborn again, become something entirely new. And yet there is a waiting, and so I fear. I fear that it will always be this way. Always.

But then again, maybe the butterfly is patient. Maybe it knows that time does not matter when you will be reborn into something magnificent, beautiful and glowing. And so waiting is hope and joy and anticipation of all the good things that are to come.